


Breaking the Cycle

by Junkyosha (Faceless_Void)



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2019-12-27 01:53:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 22,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18294473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faceless_Void/pseuds/Junkyosha
Summary: At the end of their duel, instead of simply saying goodbye, Itachi reveals everything to Sasuke to prevent him from falling into Tobi's hands. Knowing all the truth thoroughly, the young ninja decides to protect the village and returns home with the intention to follow his brother's footsteps as the true Kage. Him and his old friends reunited, they begin an entirely new journey...





	1. Chapter 1

**A/N. Hello, guys! First of all, a few warnings.**

**This is planned to be a long story, and a huge part of it is intended to be post-Shippuuden. Which means that contrary to canon, we won't be stuck in the war arc for all eternity (if the war happens at all.)**

**The main pairings are already kinda decided (SasuHina, NaruSaku, InoShika), but you guys may still affect our choices via reviews!  
** **"Our" means that we are two different authors working together to create something good and enjoyable!**

**Sasuke won't be a cliche douchebag here; our version of him is inspired by Sasuke Shinden, the post-Shippuuden canon novel.**

**The first chapter is basically a prologue that will set up the necessary changes to the canon story, it's a starting point. Hope you guys enjoy it! Let us know what you think.**

**Jun & Whiskycat  
**

* * *

**Chapter 1. Truth**

"Your eyes belong to me now."

This was it. He had lost. His ultimate jutsu Kirin – the lightning dragon – hadn't killed Itachi, and this bizarre ghostly thing, Susanoo, was still covering his brother's entire body. Even though the ninja's eyes had paled and were likely almost blind now; even though his Sharingan was now deactivated…

So was Sasuke's.

"I'll take them slowly… I want to savour this," said Itachi and panted.

Sasuke felt shivers going down his spine. Was this really going to end this way? But then…

"Gh…!" Itachi fell on his knees and covered his mouth in a fit of coughing. Blood was slowly flowing through his fingers, dripping on the ground. The phantom chakra construct surrounding him became more transparent, some of it partly disappearing completely.

Sasuke gritted his teeth and took out a kunai with an explosive tag attached to it, throwing it at his brother. A bright flash of explosion blinded him for a moment, shortly revealing the somewhat restored Susanoo holding its shield in front of staggering Itachi who was slowly standing up from the ground. He began to approach him again, one of his eyes was closed now.

"Damn you!" Sasuke yelled, unwrapping a scroll and sending a whole barrage of explosives in Itachi's direction this time. Another chain of loud blasts echoed across the place… and yet there was still no visible effect.

The younger brother backed off, grabbing the hilt of his sword with his shaking hand.

"My eyes… my…," murmured his nemesis, remorselessly closing in on him.

"DIE!" cried out Sasuke, jumping at him with the sword directed at his head. The chakra shield then repelled him, sending the ninja back on the ground like a ragdoll, making him fall hard on his back.

He then raised his head, ignoring the pain and gathering the last bits of energy he had. Itachi was now just a couple of feet away from him, his blood-stained hand reaching out towards him…

Sasuke quickly got up, taking another step back and, to his horror, feeling the cold concrete pressing against his back.

_A wall...!_

There was no way back! And the hand was already inches away from his face…!

And then it happened. Something so indescribably surreal, something he absolutely hadn't seen coming. Something absolutely impossible, unfathomable…

Itachi's fingers poked his forehead lightly, and then the world went completely dark.

Sasuke blinked, looking around himself in panic.  _Genjutsu…!_

He was out of chakra. There was no way to counter it… It was over. He was about to die.

"Sasuke… You won't die, and this isn't over."

He flinched, looking at a perfectly healthy figure of his brother standing in front of him.

"What the fuck is this?!" growled the young ninja, feeling unable to move. "A final mockery? Just finish me off and be done with it, damn it!"

"If I wanted to kill you, I would have done it many years ago when you were just as defenceless."

Sasuke frowned, feeling quite dumbfounded. Was that some kind of a game…? Itachi had a point, though. He could've killed him long ago...

"So? What of it?" he spat, feeling his hatred for this man intensifying.

"Things are… not going as planned…," Itachi panted again – apparently, he didn't have enough chakra to even be able to control his own illusion properly. Then why was he wasting his chakra on it? "We're being watched… By Madara's underlings. I am about to die… and then they will take you."

 _Madara's…?_ Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he gritted his teeth.

"If you're about to die, then why the fuck do you care what's gonna happen next?!"

Itachi paused, eyeing him for a few seconds.

"I wasn't planning to do this, but… He will most likely try to manipulate you. I can't let it happen. I'll show you all the truth… By myself…"

For a brief moment, Sasuke forgot to breathe.  _The truth_? His brother had just claimed that he was dying… If this was no bluff – and the man had no reason to bluff either way from what it looked like – could it be that he was about to reveal something… about that day? Or...

"I'll show you…"

The world around them changed, turning into the familiar place not too far away from the Uchiha compound.

This was… Itachi's memory?!

"Itachi… it's about time. Thank you for coming."

Sasuke flinched, turning around and staring at the ghost – no, a memory of the long-deceased man. Uchiha Shisui...!

**–oWo–**

"Itachi lost…?" White Zetsu said in disbelief meanwhile, staring at the two bodies lying on the ground. "He… passed away?"

" _ **Can't you see?**_ " barked his black half, although looking just as stunned as well.

"Sasuke won… I can't even believe it… It doesn't make any sense…"

" _ **How so?**_ "

"Itachi should've been much stronger than this. He wasn't moving or attacking normally, and you even said something was off about him, remember?"

" _ **True… He was hit by the attacks he should've easily dodged. And kept coughing blood all throughout the fight. Maybe he'd already been badly wounded before Sasuke even arrived?"**_

"From overusing Sharingan, you mean?"

" _ **No, not necessarily…**_ "

They kept staring at the bodies for a while.

"He was so close to taking Sasuke's eyes too…"

" _ **Something is wrong. Itachi isn't alive… But, I can still sense his chakra's presence**_."

"What do you mean?!"

" _ **Nevermind that. We must inform him now. Let's go**_."

**–oWo–**

"I see… So you've aligned with the other side?" asked their father impassively, sitting on his knees right next to their mother, turned away from Itachi.

"Father, mother… I am–"

"We know, Itachi," replied Mikoto meekly.

"Itachi, just promise me this. My last wish." Sasuke watched his brother flinch, raising his head in attention. "Take care of Sasuke."  
There was a moment of silence in which tears began to roll down Itachi's face.

"I will." His hands holding a sword began to tremble.

"Do not fear," said Fugaku. "This is the path you have chosen. Compared to yours, our pain will be over in an instant. Even if our philosophies differ, I am proud of you." Itachi's whole body began to shake as he sobbed silently, listening to the man's last words. "You are truly a kind child…"

Sasuke wanted to scream as he saw the quick swing of the blade ending the lives of his parents. He had seen this before, back when Itachi had tortured him with his Tsukuyomi, but this time… This time this was a thousand times more painful, having seen the entire premise of what was happening.

All these years of hatred… all these years of him looking for revenge… for the brother who had passed through hell in order to save his – Sasuke's – life?

"The remains of my chakra I put in your body… are fading…"

Sasuke couldn't even blink, still unable to overcome the shock caused by what he had just seen when everything disappeared again, leaving just the two of them standing in the darkness.

"I feel like I'm slowly losing consciousness… Before saying goodbye, I wanted to show you all the truth before someone else… Danzo, or Madara… would try to give you their versions… After all, there is no need to lie anymore. I'm already dead…"

Finally overcoming his numbness and shock, Sasuke slowly turned his head to face Itachi's half-transparent figure once more, looking completely lost and demolished by the dreadful realization.

"I always lied to you, telling you to forgive me. I always kept you far away, with my own hands… I didn't want… to involve you… But now I think that maybe  _you_ would have been able to change father, mother, and the whole clan… If I had faced you from the start, tried to see things from your point of view and talked with you without about the truth as it is… But I failed, and no matter what I say now it won't reach you. And yet I'm going to say what I really think…" He smiled, making Sasuke's heart pound so fast that he thought it would tear apart.

Was this all even real…? How could this be real...? How?

"Please, if you can… protect the village. Restore the Uchiha name. Beware of Madara and Danzo... And no matter what you do from now on…," the fading phantom smiled warmly, touching Sasuke's temple one final time and then hugging his nape. "I will love you forever."

Sasuke's eyelids slowly opened. He stared at the unfamiliar ceiling of some dimly-lit room, seemingly underground… Where on earth was he?

"I gave you some first aid."

He flinched, turning to the left and staring into the darkness of the passage from where he could hear the unfamiliar voice.

"You won."

Had he, really…? His brother… was dead… he had killed him himself… but now, now that he knew the truth… Could he honestly call it a victory?

"It was very close, though. You're still badly wounded. You shouldn't be so reckless with your life."

The owner of the voice stepped out of the shadows, revealing the masked figure with a short dark hair, its shade identical to his own.

"We've met once before… as enemies. Don't worry about what happened with Deidara. I'm no longer your foe."

Sasuke didn't say anything, pretending not to care but, in truth, studying the person attentively.

"I brought you here to tell you something important."

The Uchiha looked away.

"Not interested, huh? Maybe you'll pay more attention if I say it like this...? It's about Itachi Uchiha."

Sasuke closed his eyes and winced, glancing at the figure then.

"There we go… You know so much about your brother, and at the same time, you know nothing."

Sasuke's gaze paused on him as he reached to his mask, slowly removing it.

"Why don't I start by introducing myself… Like you, I'm a living, breathing Uchiha. And the man who knows the truth about Itachi."

His eye… It was a Sharingan!

Sasuke's own dojutsu activated, but nothing further happened. The man took his orange mask off, revealing a rather young face, although the right half of it was badly scarred.

"My name is Madara."

Madara? Was this the person Itachi had told him about… or rather, had warned him about? Who could've known their encounter would come so soon? Still, maybe it wasn't wise to reveal the fact that he already knew about him…

"Uchiha Madara…? Sure… You keep screwing with me and I'll kill you!" said Sasuke indifferently, his voice sounding disgustingly weak.

The person chuckled.

"I see talking to you will be difficult. I guess I understand. Some weirdo takes you in and starts telling all these shocking things… But I assure you, I speak the truth. You asked Itachi yourself about the person who helped him that night."

So it was him after all. How did he know about the details of his conversation with Itachi, though? Was Madara about to try to manipulate him? That seemed like exactly what Itachi was afraid of… But then again, could he really even trust Itachi…? This was all far too overwhelming to comprehend at once...

"I know everything there is to know about Itachi. Of course, he died without realizing just how much…"

"Stop it… I don't care. Leave me alone and never come back to me again!" Sasuke growled, almost pleading genuinely. He couldn't take any of it anymore. He needed time… He needed to think. Yes, a lot of time…

"No, I think you need – you have to question me. It's your mission… your duty!"

Sasuke gripped his blanket, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth.

"You need to know about him… The man who risked everything to protect the shinobi world… Konoha… And most of all, his little brother."

The boy felt frozen then. Because that was the moment when he finally believed all he had just seen in the memories of his brother.

It was all true… It had to be.

He wasn't sure what time or even what day was that as he stood on the shore of the sea, staring at the horizon. His wounds were fully healed now, and he was wearing a new outfit – the clothes he had borrowed from Madara's hideout. A light-grey shirt with his clan's crest on its back, and a couple more things… But, none of it really mattered to him right now. He was still trying to accept all the horrible truth that had been revealed to him...

 _To protect peace in Konoha, and most importantly, Sasuke Uchiha, yourself… He traded his pride for disgrace… And your love for your hatred. And even still, Itachi died with a smile on his face. He left the name 'Uchiha' to you and deceived you all the way to the end…  
_  
_No… Not to the end,_  he thought as if replying to Madara who, of course, couldn't read his thoughts.

 _Protect the village. Restore the Uchiha name. Beware of Madara…_  
  
These were his brother's final wishes. Could he trust everything Madara had told him? No… He still had to hear the other side of this story. He needed to get the full picture before he would make his decision…

Whether to protect the village or destroy it.

"I'm going to Konoha," he suddenly said, feeling something in his eyes changing. The pain he was feeling was immeasurable… But at the same time, his mind was surprisingly clear. He was supposed to be raging now, to be embracing his hatred… Yet there was nothing but pain and cold resolve in his heart.

"Konoha, huh?" muttered Madara sitting on the rock behind his back as the rest of his team stared at him worriedly.

"Yes. I'm planning to destroy it…," he paused, turning around and looking at his only living relative. The man was clearly amused by his words, it was notable even in spite of him wearing a mask… Was this what Madara wanted him to do? "But first, I need to retrieve some things."

"Fine. I can take you there at once…"

"No. I'm going alone. I need some time to think about everything…" Their eyes met for a while, but then Madara quickly yielded, smirking almost playfully behind his mask.

"Fine. That's understandable."

The younger Uchiha jumped off the rock, striding towards the hideout.

"I'll be back soon."

He wasn't lying. He was indeed planning to return… just as soon as he would talk to the Hokage who, as he now knew, happened to be the last descendant of those who had supposedly been the foes of his clan.

The one named Senju Tsunade.

* * *

**A/N Please let us know what you think! We'll post chapter 2 shortly! :3**


	2. Chapter 2

**Please let us know what you think, guys! Here's a new chapter for yall :3  
**

* * *

**Chapter 2. Welcome Home**

The sun had just started to set, but that didn't stop the patrons of the barbeque house from continuing to have a good time. Inside it was pretty noisy and hot. The amazing smell was a mixture of all kinds of meat and spices, and alcohol of course. One of the corner tables was occupied by a few members of the Konoha 11. Some of them were eating and drinking; some were just staring blankly either at the ceiling or the walls; some were casually chatting.

"So what's your plan for the next few days? It seems we've all got a week-long holiday, eh..." said Kiba and downed a glass of some strong liquid that had him gasping for a second afterwards. "To clear our heads, as they said… or whatever."

He was speaking with Shikamaru who was sitting on the opposite side of the table, but everyone else heard the question too and started thinking about it as well. The young Nara didn't reply immediately, only thinking that all of this was just troublesome, and wishing he could be elsewhere right now. He sighed and shrugged.

"I'll try to speak with the Hokage about it, but I think my father will interfere with that anyway. We're all thinking the same," he looked up from his glass to meet Kiba's slightly drunken gaze. "We all want to continue the mission, some more than others. But you were the one who confirmed that it would be impossible to find him under that rain. Besides, you said it yourself – he disappeared. The fact that he still hasn't returned on his own accord means that he..." Shikamaru glanced at the side of the table where Naruto was sitting. The blond boy lazily kept turning a piece of meat on the platter from one side to another, deep in thought. Clearly, he wasn't listening to his teammates' conversation.

"Yeah, that's right. There's nothing we can do at the moment so no point to run around in the dark. We should definitely take this time to chill and relax," said Kiba. Others at the table – Shino, Hinata, Neji, Lee, Tenten, Ino and even Sakura – nodded in agreement. The rose-haired kunoichi looked at Naruto, noticing that he still hadn't touched his food. The girl's expression instantly changed to a worried one, but before she could say anything, a few glasses dropped on the floor at the other table, startling everybody. Naruto flinched slightly, shook his head and then finally started to clean up his platter.

"I definitely think we should all at least try to find out what we should do next. I'm not saying we need to go out there immediately, but Hokage-sama and others must have some thoughts about the next step. Honestly, this nukenin business has stretched out for too long…," said Neji, crossing his arms on his chest and frowning. Everyone looked at him, understanding what he was trying to say.

"H-He hasn't been labelled a nukenin yet, Neji-nii-san," stuttered Hinata after throwing a careful glance at Naruto who was clearly irritated by the ninja's words.

"She's right, Neji!" said Lee, clenching his bandaged fists. "We shouldn't talk about our comrade like that!"

"Yes, that's true," agreed his teammate. "But, for how long will it remain this way? If he doesn't want to return, nobody can force him, as much as I want it to be the other way around–"

None of them paid any attention to the bell ringing at the entrance of the crowded eatery as a cloaked figure slowly walked in, bypassing a few of other customers and then pausing for a second in the middle of the hall. The figure's hooded head then turned in their direction, but before any of them could possibly notice it, the person quickly walked to the bar counter and settled down there.

"If Sasuke isn't back yet, then he must have a reason not to come," finally muttered Naruto darkly, still not looking up from his plate. "Maybe we shouldn't chase him anymore after all. Whatever he's up to now… It must be important."

"You think so?" Neji glanced at him sceptically, receiving a heavy poke on the ribs from Tenten.

"I–I think N-Naruto-kun is right," said Hinata, lowering her eyes timidly.

"Of course,  _you_  would think that!" Kiba laughed, making the girl blush under the other few smirks and grins that followed.

"W-Well… I just think that – if Sasuke-san has fulfilled his goal – if he truly killed his b-brother – there must be s-something that – or m-maybe someone who prevented him from going back…," she mused, lowering her voice sheepishly by the end of the sentence.

The cloaked person moved a tad, slightly turning his head to the right and revealing the neck-long strands of raven-black hair.

"Hey, that's actually quite insightful, Hinata-chan!" exclaimed Sakura, even raising up on her spot a bit in excitement. "What if somebody's actually holding him? Someone like… Akatsuki?"

Shikamaru frowned, biting on a toothpick. That didn't sound good at all. On the contrary, it would be extremely bad for the Uchiha. The worst part of it was that it didn't sound too far-fetched given that his teacher Orochimaru had once been a member of the organization, as well as his brother. Assuming it was true, whether they were holding him against his will, or if he decided to join them for some reason... Either way, it would mean that they couldn't really waste any more time relaxing in Konoha.

The jōnin glanced at Naruto, surprised to see that, judging by his suddenly frightened and paled expression, the jinchūriki came to the same conclusion.

"Sakura!" Shikamaru raised his voice a bit, just to the point so that everyone at the table looked at him. He shot another glance at Naruto who already had that determined "ready to go" face so typical for him. Baffled for a mere second, Sakura finally understood that she should've chosen her words more carefully, looking both worried and ashamed now. "We don't know his motive or circumstances. If I recall correctly, he never stated that he would return to Konoha after killing his brother, right?" The Nara glanced at Naruto and Sakura, both of whom just shook their heads reluctantly.

"I–I suppose we were kind of... selfish. Thinking that he would immediately come back to us," said Sakura frowning and lowering her jade eyes. "But, I mean… It's only because he's still dear to us; all we ever wanted was to simply be there for him if he needed us. Just like when Team 7 just started. Just like right now…," she added almost in a whisper, albeit throwing a more determined gaze back at Shikamaru. Naruto seemed to be in agreement with her, though he didn't say anything.

"That's all amazing and good, but you are forgetting that the only reason why Sasuke hasn't been officially branded nukenin is because of Hokage-sama's whim. All thanks to your close relationship with her, Naruto." Neji said. He knew exactly what he was saying, and realized that it was pretty harsh, but the ninja held no ill intent towards any of his friends or even Sasuke. He was merely stating the obvious truths whether they liked them or not. "Meaning that it's only a matter of time before it happens. She cannot stall this matter forever. Even Hiashi-sama is quite displeased with all this, and his voice has a lot of weight in the council of the village."

The atmosphere at the table became notably more gloomy. While what the Hyūga was saying was painful to hear, everyone realized that it was true.

"I understand where you're coming from, Neji. You're correct. However, you will not know this as you've only met him briefly at the chūnin exam, and never really got to know him. Although I too was never really friends with him... Hell, he was more problematic than anything considering he was the reason the rest of us were pushed so much in the academy, just to be on par with the 'genius'...," Shikamaru started his usual kind of ranting which relaxed the atmosphere a bit. Kiba grinned, remembering their antics during the academy years. "But, Sasuke is the type of person who wouldn't do something on a whim or without giving it a lot of thought. I'm sure of this much. We shouldn't be looking to hasten the nukenin issue; instead, we should be trying to find a way to bring a Konoha shinobi, our comrade, back home. He hasn't forsaken the village until proven otherwise, and the village is still waiting for him."

"Damn, right!" exclaimed Lee, raising a thumb.

"Well said, man!" Kiba smiled, raising his glass.

"I–I agree," Hinata nodded, looking at her cousin who still looked more bothered rather than inspired like the rest of them. "S-Sasuke-san must have his reasons not to go home. It is s-still his home, though. As long as h-he wants it to be this way."

"Agreed!"

"Yep!"

Everyone then looked at the only two jōnin at their table who stared at each other quietly, as if fighting mentally. Shikamaru was a lazy shinobi who hated drama, but when the time demanded it he could always find the right words to reach his friends. Even Naruto finally smiled, obviously sharing the same point of view as most of them. And the rest didn't object either…

Neji just sighed and looked away, while Ino gave Shikamaru a suspicious look. He caught her gaze, and on his face, one could instantly notice uncovered irritation. He knew she was teasing him in her mind. She knew he understood this as well. The man leaned on the back of the bench and started pouring sake into his glass.  
The cloaked figure none of them had noticed suddenly got up, leaving a half-empty cup of tea on the bar counter and almost storming towards the exit. On its way, the person was moving so recklessly that he accidentally knocked down a waiter who yelled something indignantly, but the dark-haired young man never listened. In truth, he wasn't noticing anything around him right now. Of course, he didn't know that the white-eyed ninja who was sitting a couple of yards away from Naruto, having noticed the strange movement, instantly activated his Byakugan and was now staring right at him…

Frankly, none of it mattered to Sasuke right now. Although he hadn't been sure what to do until now, the conversation he had just inadvertently overheard… No, he couldn't honestly say that it changed everything or even anything at all. However, some part of him – something very deep inside, in the сhasms of his wounded heart he usually preferred to keep forsaken – it had twitched. He suddenly realized that he wasn't completely alone. Or rather, he didn't  _have_  to be alone. He could see that this village, this thing that had once been so precious to his late brother – it was really something more than he had always viewed it. These people who barely knew him… They still wanted to give him solace. Comfort. Home. And although the reasons behind that were unfathomable to him for now, the Uchiha finally realized what he had to do.

He was going to protect this village, just like Itachi had asked him to. Exactly like his brother had always done himself…

The ninja took off his hood and jumped on top of the nearest building, rushing towards the Hokage's office.

"N-Neji-nii-san, are you alright?" asked Hinata, touching the other Hyūga's sleeve perplexedly as she noticed him having suddenly activated his Byakugan.

Neji stared at the cloaked man right until he left the building. He continued to look at the closed door for a while, not really hearing his cousin's call as he was too stunned by the realization of the person's identity. He finally snapped out of it when Hinata pulled on his arm a little bit harder.

"Huh? Oh... Yes." He de-activated Byakugan, and gave Hinata a reassuring look. "I'm alright, Hinata-sama. Don't worry about it." It seemed that his cousin didn't really believe him, but decided not to push it. The conversation at the table changed to something trivial. Ino was bugging Shikamaru, in turn, he was trying hard to ignore her. Kiba slowly kept drinking more and more. Sakura and Naruto were having a chat about the possibilities of how and when Sasuke might return. Rock Lee was desperately trying to be a part of every conversation at the same time, failing at all of them. Tenten was just quietly finishing her dish, listening to them all.

"Shikamaru, Naruto… and Shino. May I have a word with you? Outside." Said Neji as he stood up and started walking towards the exit. Everyone looked surprised by it, but most of the group quickly forgot about it and continued their previous activities. Except for Kiba who tried to tag along, but was quickly calmed down by Hinata who threw an anxious glance at Neji but said nothing, realizing that it had to be important.

The four shinobi left the barbeque building and walked into the backside alley. It was already dark outside, and although most of the leisure places around were quite full, almost no one was walking the streets, and the alley was empty as well.

"What is this about, Neji?" Naruto asked impatiently. He had finally relaxed, beginning to enjoy his meal and it seemed that Sakura was for once genuinely interested in having a nice conversation with him, even though it was about Sasuke...

"Does it have something to do with your sudden Byakugan usage?" asked Shikamaru and lit up a cigarette. Neji noted in his mind that Shikamaru had noticed it as well besides Hinata, once more silently complimenting the ninja's perception.

"Right... I wanted to let you guys know first since it's kind of a... shocking thing. Others could have overreacted… Basically, there was a strange cloaked man in the barbeque house who left abruptly, running into a waiter. Did any of you notice that?" Neji stopped, for some reason waiting for a reaction. Shino hemmed yet said nothing while Shikamaru narrowed his eyes thoughtfully at the Hyūga.

Naruto, however...

"You brought us out here to share that you creepily stalked some guy?! The hell is wrong with you!" he shouted. The Hyūga's eyes widened, and his cheeks went slightly red.

"Of course not, you idiot!" the man covered his face with his palm and lowered his voice. "That man was Sasuke Uchiha. He has returned! He listened in on us, and left," he dropped this with a more serious face and tone. For a few seconds, nobody made a sound or even moved. Finally, Shikamaru took the cigarette out of his mouth, and let out a big cloud of smoke into the side. Neji looked at the three of them a bit impatiently. "Well?"

"Well, if you saw him with your Byakugan, then it's definitely him. You wouldn't make a mistake," said the other jōnin.

"Oi, Shikamaru, let's get Kiba here quickly and follow Sasuke's trail!" shouted the blonde shinobi as he started to run towards the entrance.

"Wait!" the ninja stopped as Shino grabbed his sleeve. "Let us not get all hasty. That's because Kiba is already too drunk to even stand on his two feet, he's of no help right now." Said the ninja knowingly, looking at Naruto.

"I'm sure he's still in the village so Neji can try and find him with his Byakugan. You do that now, I'll let the others know that we need to check something and that we'll get back soon," said Shikamaru and quickly went inside. Neji gave him a nod and activated Byakugan to scan the village for Sasuke's whereabouts. Naruto was impatiently pacing back and forth. Of course, he was determined not to lose his friend's trail again.

Meanwhile, Shikamaru notified the other group that something important came up, and they would come back in an hour or so. Most of them were already either too tired or too drunk to care. Only Hinata and Ino found the situation a bit too suspicious, and they looked ready to try to argue, but the jōnin gave them no chance as he quickly walked away. As Shikamaru came back out, Neji told him that Sasuke was currently heading towards the Hokage's office. And so the four shinobi immediately started to follow him.

"Hey, Shizune, it's already pretty late… Think we could take a day off tomorrow? I'm sooo tired…," Tsunade whined, stretching her back.

"Uh… I'm sorry, Tsunade-sama, but you know…" She spread her hands apologetically, nodding at the two piles of papers waiting for the Fifth on her table.

"Yeah, yeah… what a drag. I'm too young for this shit," she joked with a straight face, making her assistant giggle. "Could you at least bring us some tea? Or maybe something–"

"Tsunade-sama!"

"I mean something sweet, okay? A cake would do, my brain is shutting down." The busty kunoichi sighed, leaning on the back of her seat as the dark-haired woman smiled at her and nodded.

"Of course. I'll be right back." She walked out of the room and closed the door, leaving the Hokage alone.

The blonde closed her eyes for a moment, enjoying the peaceful silence barely interrupted by the noises coming from the street outside. It was a relatively calm time for Konoha nowadays, and she couldn't help but appreciate it. However, the woman wasn't sure how long it would last. Especially now that Jiraiya...

"Your security is too weak, Fifth."

She didn't flinch, although quickly snapped out of her thought at the barely familiar voice. She could admit to herself, it was quite difficult to suppress a gasp of surprise as she met the onyx-black eyes of the teen who was giving her a gloomy deadpan, standing just a yard away from her table.

"That's because I don't need too much protection… Uchiha."

"If you say so, Senju."

Her eyes widened the tiniest bit. Nobody had called her that in a very long time…

"I take it you decided to return then. Took you long enough."

"This isn't exactly what I decided to do."

Tsunade blinked, baffled by his words and especially by his calm, almost friendly tone.

"Then what is it, pray tell?"

"I'll become Hokage."

She blinked again, this time feeling completely dumbfounded. She wasn't sure if this was some kind of a prank or not, but the woman realized that she couldn't afford to push the Uchiha away now that he had willingly returned. That's why she decided to be borderline polite as she replied,

"I see. So… shall I hand over my mantle to you then?" She instantly cursed herself inwardly for the barely hidden note of sarcasm in her voice.

But, much to her further confusion, his expression didn't change at all.

"No. The Hokage I'm talking about is nothing like you," he said firmly, making the woman suddenly want to keep quiet and listen to him as the boy was apparently willing to continue.

"Itachi Uchiha… My brother was born in the shadows and protected the village from the dark. You know how he lived, right?" He paused, noticing how she instantly paled at his words which indicated to him that she was aware of the truth. "That's the Hokage I want to become." He closed his eyes and paused, lowering his head a bit before looking back at her with an expression of cold resolve. "Moving in the shadows, caring about the village, accepting all the hatred and working for peace."

Tsunade still didn't say anything, too astonished by his words to give an adequate response and thus allowing him to continue.

"To that end, it doesn't matter how much I'll have to dirty my hands. I'll accept all the hatred born from it…" Sasuke clenched his fists, stepping towards the window and looking outside.

"I don't have a father, a mother, or a brother. I'm all alone. I can carry everything all by myself," he turned to look at her again, this time appearing perfectly calm again. "Yes, that's the Hokage I want to be."

"You sure sound very self-assured… But there are things you can't do alone, Sasuke. You should know it by now. If you decide to walk the same path as Itachi did, you'll end up…" She closed her mouth, not wanting to fully express the obvious idea.

The ninja closed his eyes again, sighing.

"Things won't always go well… Just like this village… And like our ancestors – its founders…"

 _And like us… just like us, brothers…_ , he thought, remembering Itachi's smiling face in his final moments.

"In the end, what this village needs is someone in Itachi's position. I'll take care of all the darkness from the past and bring things to a pure, unwritten future."

The Hokage kept looking at him thoughtfully for a while before finally uttering,

"Are you saying that you're going to let it go? Everything my predecessors did to you and your clan…"

"Yes," he said a bit too abruptly to sound entirely sincere.

"Does it mean that you also want to cut your ties with your teammates? And your friends? Just like  _he_  did?"

This time he was the one to hesitate, looking away and narrowing his eyes a bit.

"Yes… If I have to."

"But what if you don't have to?"

He gave her a slightly confused look. The woman returned him a tiny grin and sighed.

"The world is not just painted white and black, Sasuke. A Hokage like me is necessary for the village, just like the one you want to become. It's exactly as you said, things don't always go well… Truth to be told, they usually get fucked up badly," she looked away, and the immense pain in her eyes didn't go unnoticed by Sasuke as she remembered Jiraiya once more. "We could still try working on it together."

"I doubt that all of our goals and methods are compatible."

"Oh, please… I can imagine what you're thinking of right now. If anything, you'd give the village huge favour if you disposed of that kind of a problem," she said as carefully as she could, praying for him to realize what exactly she was implying, unable to say it aloud. Danzō had ears everywhere after all.

"Is that an official permission?" His lips curved into the smallest grin for the first time throughout their conversation, making her smirk in return.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Alright. Fine by me." Sasuke looked out the window again, taking a few moments to think. "I think I still have to return to Akatsuki, though. He's waiting for me. I can't lose this chance to spy on them."

"Akatsuki?!" She gasped, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. " _Who_  is waiting for you?"

"Their leader… I'm not sure if it's wise to discuss this here," he suddenly snapped, making Tsunade take hold of herself and calm down.

"Understood. When do you have to return to them?"

He shrugged.

"A few days. I could stay here for good, but I don't feel like it… At least not yet. Besides, I intend to keep my eye on them while I have this opportunity. The leader seems to trust me for whatever reason; he offered me to join them," he reasoned, remembering Madara's masked face. Did the man really trust him, though? The ninja had no idea, but he knew that he couldn't afford to waste a chance like that.

"Okay. I'll find you later, Sasuke, so that we can discuss it all in private. For now, you're dismissed."

"Yeah."

He jumped out the window, quickly reaching the top of the building and then continued moving in the direction of his late clan's territory.

Meanwhile, the group of his former classmates and comrades was waiting outside of the office, watching the building from different angles. As Neji explained, Sasuke just had a talk with the Fifth, but he couldn't understand what exactly they were saying.

"So it seems that Tsunade-sama knows about him too. I wonder for how long she's known about him…," commented Shikamaru. Naruto was visually displeased with this development. First Shikamaru had forbidden him storming after Sasuke, and now this shady business with Tsunade...

"Relax, Naruto. I didn't say that it's certain that she knew about him before this meeting. She honestly looked quite surprised herself," the Hyūga added. That helped relieve some tension in Naruto who still appeared pretty annoyed, but wasn't about to explode anymore.

"Right. You're saying he's headed to the old Uchiha compound territory?" asked Shikamaru. Neji gave him a nod as he was currently tracking Sasuke with his Byakugan. "Good. We'll have a chat with him over there. There shouldn't be any witnesses in those ruins except..." Shikamaru stopped himself before mentioning any possibilities of ANBU being there, specifically ANBU root being his primary concern.

"Except?" Naruto asked.

"Doesn't matter, we'll be careful. Plus I'm sure Sasuke knows his way around to avoid any unnecessary attention. Let's go." And with that the group quickly vanished, following the Uchiha closely.

They managed to finally catch up to him as he was nearing one of the broken parts in the western wall around the compound ruins. He was visibly hesitating to go further, inspecting the walls and unhurriedly walking around.

"So... How are we supposed to announce our presence exactly?" asked Neji, feeling that this situation was becoming a bit awkward. Before Shikamaru could say anything, the ever hyperactive blonde shinobi finally lost the last bits of patience and jumped out of the bushes, yelling:

"Sasuke!" Even though the Uchiha might have picked up a tail, Shikamaru could've sworn he still noticed a very slight flinch of his shoulders as the piercing voice of Sasuke's former comrade boomed throughout the territory.

"Just like that..." finally muttered Shikamaru, jumping out after Naruto. Neji and Shino quickly followed.

Sasuke turned around, holding back the irritation. Of course, he could've seen this coming, but not so shortly after his arrival to the village…

His gaze then stopped on the Hyūga accompanying his old teammate – the same one he had seen back at the BBQ. This was the guy who had insisted on him being a nukenin… His Byakugan was activated, although he clearly wasn't about to fight anybody.

Naturally…

"I already began to forget there were dōjutsu users alive other than me," he said calmly, completely ignoring Naruto and honestly not wanting to talk to any of them at the moment. "What was your name?" Of course, he remembered that his name was Neji. Still, since the Hyūga was obviously the cause of this unwanted annoyance, and also considering his previous observations from the barbeque store, the Uchiha unwillingly mocked the guy to get some cheap revenge...

Naruto quickly ran up to Sasuke, stopping a few yards away from him. The other three slowly joined the blond boy. Neji's expression didn't change much besides getting a bit more serious. Apparently, he decided not to notice the Uchiha's taunt. As they got closer, he deactivated his Byakugan as a gesture of politeness – it wasn't needed anymore at any rate.

"Well, it was hard not to–" Before Neji would have finished, Naruto butted in again.

"Your first response is to be a smartass? Seriously?!" the blonde shouted once again, clenching his fists. Although at the first glance one could probably say that Naruto was extremely mad, those surrounding him knew the Uzumaki boy all too well to understand how happy he was right now. Wiping his face with his palm of few times, the jinchūriki finally became a little bit more serious.

"There's a lot of stuff I wanna ask you, but all things considered right now – mind telling us why it took you so long to come back? And what did you want from grandma Tsunade?" Shikamaru was surprised how Naruto went straight to the point. He noted once again that the kid from their academy years had definitely matured, even though he still acted like a troublesome brat sometimes. The jōnin didn't want to interrupt so he lit up another cigarette, watching the not-so-friendly reunion.

"The reason to that is…," Sasuke paused, looking at Shikamaru who was peering at him searchingly, appearing to be the most curious to hear his answer out of the four of them, "...None of your business."

He wouldn't tell them even if he wanted to, of course, which he totally didn't. In his opinion, this kind of information couldn't be handed to someone like Naruto, let alone the other three whom he didn't trust at all as of now.

However, deciding to take a precaution as he absolutely didn't want to deal with them any longer than it would be necessary, he added before Naruto would explode,

"This is a top-secret mission given to me by the Fifth. This is all you need to know."

Naruto glared intently at his former comrade. He then decided that the fact that they weren't clashing weapons right now already meant a lot to him. Uzumaki relaxed a bit, and let out a sigh.

"That's fine. I'm just glad you're finally back," said Naruto calmly with his usual reassuring smile. He genuinely seemed to be content at the moment. Neji was silently listening to them both, deciding it wouldn't be a good time to chime in, just like Shino. Shikamaru, on the other hand, looked a little bit annoyed. He finished his cigarette before it would expire, putting the butt of it in his pocket.

"I'm sure you came specifically here for a reason, so I'm guessing we shouldn't be bothering you for too long. Naruto, you can chat with him more tomorrow, since he's obviously here to stay…" Shikamaru walked up a bit closer to the two shinobi, watching for Sasuke's reaction carefully. Even though the jōnin wasn't sure if he really wanted to stay, the Uchiha didn't protest. On the contrary, even without showing it he somehow seemed to be supportive of the idea of these four leaving him alone right now. Or maybe it was just Shikamaru's intuition...

Surprisingly, Naruto didn't object.

"Besides, we wouldn't want to talk about these sorts of things considering that ROOT has ears and eyes probably all over this place, given its significance and all." Shikamaru glanced over the forest that surrounded the compound. The sun had set a long time ago, and now the moon was looming over Konoha. Naruto, Shino and Neji didn't understand exactly what their friend meant, but they got the idea that it was best to shut up and leave by how serious he looked when he said it. Before Naruto would once again proclaim that it was great to have Sasuke back, Shikamaru hesitated and stopped, looking over his shoulder.

"So... in the end, you got what you wanted, you got your revenge. Was it worth it? Does it feel better now?" The jōnin remembered his teacher's fate, as well as the fate of the one who had killed him. That feeling of emptiness he experienced the moment he buried Hidan in the forest, it still lingered within him. He was now curious of the state of mind of someone who experienced something similar...

The brief, emptied and aloof glance full of pain that Sasuke gave him in response without saying anything told Shikamaru more than he had probably expected to hear. Turning away from them, the Uchiha slowly proceeded to the territory of his clan, finally about to meet the welcoming torment he had been running away from for over three years.

His desolate home…

* * *

**A/N. Will Sasuke return to Tobi or not? We'll see the next chapter! OwO Take care and have a nice day!**


	3. Family Bonds

**Chapter 3. Family Bonds**

As he walked into the cemetery of his memories he had once called his home, Sasuke instantly began to feel anxiety increasing with every passing moment. He could already sense the cold grip of the almost forgotten fear and despair tightening on his throat, and it was disturbing, to say the least. He belatedly realized that wasn't ready to face it all again yet. He wasn't ready to be here at all. Not after everything Itachi had told and shown him… Not knowing the full extent of just how tragic and horrible was what had happened here almost ten years ago.

He could see something unbearably painful in every single crack in the walls and the ground. In the blind broken windows of countless forever abandoned houses around him. Even in the way the wind was whispering to him something illegible yet so frightening as if begging him to run away again...

Sasuke stopped, closing his eyes, taking a deep breath and forcing himself to calm down. He knew that he had no time to wallow in sentimentality, what was done was done no matter how catastrophic it was. Aside from Madara, he was the only Uchiha remaining alive. And if he was to be forever haunted by the ghosts of this place…

He would just get rid of them!

The crimson eyes flashed in the soft light of the full moon as he took out his sword, charged it with lightning and cut through the wall of the nearest wooden house. A loud cracking sound followed his swipe. Apparently, the small building had rotten so much that the single blow was enough to make it crumble and collapse completely, making the ninja cover his face from all the dust that raised up in the air.

The Uchiha then roared and cried in rage and agony, storming forward and hitting everything he could see around without aiming. Whether he was trying to demolish everything around or was it just a futile attempt to fight off the ghosts, he didn't even know himself. But by the time when he had already lost the count of things he had destroyed, making yet another wall fall apart, the ninja paused his onslaught, coming back to his senses. The place he was seeing suddenly felt awfully familiar…

Raising his weapon and thus lighting the space around with the chakra streaming through its blade, he narrowed his eyes, looking across the room. And then…

He fell on his knees, dropping the sword on the dusty carpet and beginning to shake.

This was Shisui's home. He had spent countless hours playing here with him and Itachi as a child. On this very floor…

The boy sobbed, hugging himself and writhing so much that his head now rested on the dirty carpet. This was just too much. He was finally breaking down, unable to withstand all the pain and pressure of everything that had happened recently. This was the moment when he realized just how lonely he was. He desperately wanted to feel all those things from his past once again… To be surrounded by family and friends, to have someone who would love him. To have someone he would love himself… To have a place he would be happy to return to no matter what happened to him.

But, the cruel reality was that all of it was gone now. Gone forever. As his scream died out in the empty streets of the abandoned district, Sasuke froze, slowly opening his eyes and deactivating his Sharingan. Is it, though? he thought, gazing at the old picture of Shisui's family smiling at him happily.

Maybe… Just maybe he could still have all of it. Maybe not today, perhaps not even anywhere near in the future. But someday, eventually… After all, he still intended to revive his clan. No, it was his duty. He now also intended to protect Konoha. Yes, life was truly unfair and the world was impossibly cruel – to him, it was probably worse than to most. But, that was simply how things worked. And he, as someone who possessed the Uchiha blood in his veins…

He couldn't fail the legacy entrusted to him...

The ninja got up, grabbing his sword and putting it back in its scabbard before taking a very deep breath and slowly walking out, staggering a little bit. It seemed as if the very air around had changed. He blinked, studying the damage he had caused. Evidently, he'd left more than a dozen buildings in shambles, but now… Now they looked as empty ruins and nothing more. The entire place suddenly stopped giving him the feeling of a haunt, and that was probably a good sign. He was finally getting a hold of himself.

Sasuke strode forward, walking towards his own house – the most decent-looking place out there, even though it'd also been abandoned for a couple of years by now. He realized that he needed to make it suitable for living again, that was his main task for now. And so he entered his home and began to clean everything up.

He didn't know how many hours had passed by the time he heard the barely notable noise just outside the house. The Uchiha got up from the floor, quickly wiping his face and grabbing his sword just in case. Knowing that Danzō was somewhere within the village, he needed to be careful even here at home…

To his surprise, though, there was a single kunoichi standing just behind his door. She was dressed oddly, wearing some grey rugs that looked as if she had taken them from a homeless person somewhere in the outskirts, her blonde hair not even visible at all under the patched hood.

"May I come in?" asked the Fifth, probably in the most polite manner she was capable of, to which he simply nodded, stepping aside and letting her enter the house before closing the door behind her back.

Finally able to take off the nasty hood, Tsunade visibly relaxed, although the way she peered at him promised nothing good.

"I'm taking his head. This isn't negotiable," he snapped with a deadpan expression before she could say anything.

"Please. Don't act like a spoiled brat, unless you want to die before even getting close to what your brother wanted of you." Tsunade was getting a bit impatient with his demanding characteristics. She looked around the house they were in. Since it was night time outside, and there were no light sources inside, the whole place looked even more gloomy with the presence of sulking yet vengeful Uchiha.

"Listen, I don't mind getting the village rid of that cancerous blob, but it needs to be done carefully. Definitely not anywhere near Konoha. You have absolutely no idea the power that person has amassed ever since the Fourth passed." The woman sighed. The mere thought of Danzō gave her a headache. She sat down on the floor in an unexpectedly childish manner, leaning back at the wall of the house.

"You may take his head, I don't care about that. What I do care about is how you're going to do it, and you're going to do it my way. I understand you were relying just on yourself these past few years, but since you've decided to return – you're going to have to learn what compromise is, and how to work with others." The Fifth said this with a calm and neutral tone. She wasn't trying to belittle Sasuke, nor teach him anything. She was speaking to him as an equal… Or so she wanted him to believe. Well, at least he was an equal to that troublesome idiot at least, the one who kept calling her a grandma…

And although she sounded more than a bit annoying to him, he realized that she was trying hard to stay respectful. To an extent, he felt the same way himself right now. Probably only because he realized that it was the only way this game could keep going without spilling blood… Not that he would mind that very much, to be honest, but he also realized that this wasn't something Itachi would want of him.

"Don't misunderstand… I don't care where and how I'll have to do it, but I am going to kill him. I'm informing you as the Hokage. This is my condition for staying in the village… and not trying to claim your place forcibly. Your clan has owed mine that much for decades, don't forget about it," he said calmly yet menacingly, implying the fact that despite the equal terms the village had been initially founded on, no Uchiha had ever been a Hokage.

Tsunade eyed him for a bit before saying anything.

"With all the secrecy we're having right now, especially considering ROOT's presence, you really need to work on your covert speech skills," she said with a tired grimace. No matter the circumstances, she realized that it was still just a child before her. A traumatized, lonely child. Exactly the same as Naruto. But, considering what that same blonde ninja had shown her over the years, sometimes being even wiser than she or any other elder, she couldn't help but feel empathy for the Uchiha and low-key genuinely wanting to help him.

"Don't misunderstand me as well. Whatever qualms you think you or your clan had with my ancestors have nothing to do with me personally. I don't owe you anything. In fact, I would go as far as to say that I'm doing this more for that stupid brat who never gave up on you. Whatever you believe the Senju have inflicted upon the Uchiha there's always a second or even third opinion… I don't think either of us wants a debate on this matter," Tsunade paused for a bit to let him process that. She visually relaxed even more, almost like she was actually enjoying the conversation.

"It's very simple. You'll get what you want, and we're going to do it right. Since you wish to follow your brother's path, then it would benefit you to understand his philosophy as well. Brands such as clans, armies, nations are exactly what brings out the hatred towards each other. I'm going to treat you exactly the same way as I treat everyone here. Like a Konoha citizen, and a Konoha shinobi," she suddenly stood up, and walked up to Sasuke.

"We're not the family you wanted, but this is the family you have from now on. I will do everything in my power to assist a family member. Starting with helping you find a way to deal with him, and afterwards, we can think about what we can do about this place," she looked around the house once again.

"I expect my family members to do the same for me, and others. Regardless of their status, or their past." She reached out to shake his hand, thus coming to an agreement.

"I don't think you understand," finally replied Sasuke, ignoring her gesture. "The security of this village is my only concern at this point. If I view you as someone who can ensure it, I don't really mind you keeping your position," he mused after a moment of thinking. "That man, however, is a direct threat. An entire clan has been wiped out due to his decision. The Uchiha may not be the last. What if he targets the Hyūga next, as the biggest and the most independent clan remaining in the village? Or worse, what if he decides that Naruto shouldn't be the host of the Nine-Tails any longer? He wouldn't hesitate to kill all of them if needed," he looked into her eyes, noticing the tiniest note of fear deep in the brown irises as he mentioned his friend's name. "And if you do realize this much, then why is he still walking around?"

Tsunade didn't reply right away, still having her hand reached out to Sasuke and silently admiring the boy's intelligence and cunning. Of course, he wasn't the first one to come up with such an idea. That was exactly the reason why she didn't really mind getting rid of Danzō, especially the last thing he said... Perhaps Naruto was her weak spot after all. And Sasuke definitely hadn't missed her reaction to his words...

"And there's more to that. I was given a certain task by Akatsuki. I'm supposed to retrieve the Eight-Tails… He and Naruto are the only ones left, they've collected the rest. What do you think are the chances that Danzō, as soon as he finds out about this, will leave Naruto alone?" He decided to push, although he wasn't quite sure why. His intuition was telling him that he shouldn't just accept her as his superior; he might respect Itachi's way of living, but he wasn't Itachi himself. Despite formally being her subordinate, he wasn't going to be a servant, let alone a servant to a Senju.

The Fifth didn't reply to that immediately either. She was thinking over his words, and while she was doing that her facial expression started to change a bit. She was beginning to feel annoyed.

"I didn't come here to argue with you. You seem to be thinking you're holding all the aces up your sleeve, even though I don't understand what's the point of it, but you obviously do not know how big the world actually is. Or at least what was happening in Konoha in your absence." She finally put down her hand. She seemed to have tensed up a little bit, now looking a bit more like a Hokage should, rather than a friendly person who came for a casual conversation.

"We're aware of Akatsuki's motives, going far back when Itachi came to Konoha. A lot has happened since then as well, but you wouldn't know, now would you?" Now it seemed that Sasuke had hit a nerve. With how much disrespect Naruto usually showed to her, having another brat like that by her side would a huge headache for Tsunade. Still, she can't help but actually feel what the dark-haired teen was trying to say. She'd always felt the same around Jiraiya before and around Naruto these days. How annoying... Why do I always end up surrounded by men like this?

"Tch. I don't need you to give me more reasons to take care of him. As I said, you will have my and others' support in this. Just as you  _de-man-ded_ …" she stretched the last word, as if making fun of it. The boy didn't react at all, and she sighed.

"I will not take away your comfort if this is how you want to be. However, you must learn that things are rarely so simple as you seem to believe they are. There's a lot to consider, but also plenty of options to choose from on how to act." Although it was very dark in the room they were in, Sasuke could see a glimpse of her eyes that were filled, much to his astonishment, with care rather than with superiority or hostility.

"I don't know what you exactly think about me, and honestly I don't give a rat's ass. If you want to play hard to get – by all means, keep going. We can agree on one thing for now, and that is the security of Konoha being the most important thing of all. So we'll work on that first." The Fifth pulled over the hood on her head, looking disgusted as the dirty fabric touched her face. She then turned around to walk towards the exit. The woman stopped at the door, hesitating for a moment before glancing at him once more.

"Regardless of your opinion of me, or Konoha – I truly  _am_  happy that you have returned. We will discuss the details of your mission by means of random drops. Something important will be happening soon that will require him to move to other nations. You will find the first information drop at these coordinates." She shuffled in her pockets, trying to find a small scroll. As she finally found it, she gently put it on the floor beside her.

"Good night." With that, she left the building and disappeared into the night.

Sasuke frowned, picking up the scroll and glancing at it with his Sharingan before crumpling the paper in his hand and then burning it with his chakra. As much as he yearned to kill the man here and now, maybe Tsunade was right and it was unwise to go after him in a straightforward manner. First, he needed to study his adversary – that's what Itachi would do in his place. He had no idea what kind of powers and resources Danzō could possess, that was true. If Sasuke was planning to take the man's life but remain in Konoha at the same time, free of any charges, he had to come up with a detailed plan for his revenge.

The ninja sighed, switching off the lights in the house and then walking outside, inhaling some fresh air that instantly made him feel better and to get somewhat reassured. Maybe he wouldn't be able to enjoy the final screams of Danzō personally, but he could still make him die a horrible death…

It just had to be done by someone else.

Anyhow, the boy realized to his displeasure that he definitely required allies at this. Spying on someone who was the head of all spies in the village was no trivial task. The only sensory-type ninja he knew was Karin, but she was out of the question as the girl was most likely considered a criminal in Konoha. Which meant that he had to find someone else, preferably a few people. But who?

As he walked towards the broken gates of the compound, the Uchiha began trying to recall his old classmates' abilities. The only ones he really knew thoroughly were Naruto, Sakura, Lee and maybe also Neji. The latter one could help him a lot with his Byakugan, without a doubt… But, Neji wasn't really trustworthy from Sasuke's point of view. Not only because the guy had shown distrust towards him back at the barbeque, but also due to him being a part of the Branch House of his clan. Should anything go wrong, he would have no choice but to sell Sasuke out to the head of the Hyūga brethren, whoever it might be.

But, aside from these four, he knew nobody else. In other words, he needed to do some research…

Sasuke grunted at the final realization, already anticipating just how much of a pain it was going to be. Still, there was probably no other choice…

For now, he had to question Naruto and to do it in the way so that the dumbass wouldn't get too suspicious.

– **=OwO=** –

By the time Sasuke left his territory morning had almost come, but some of the Konoha 11 ninjas only recently had gone home to rest. Kiba was unable to walk so his trusty pet – Akamaru – had to carry his owner back home. Rock Lee and Ten-Ten left together, as they were the only ones completely sober of the bunch by the end of the party. The rest kept walking across the village together, sometimes missing their houses and doing an extra circle around the districts, ultimately finding their home randomly at some point.

It was already past 1 PM when Naruto finally started to wake up. He felt something heavy was obstructing him from actually getting up from the bed. As he reluctantly opened his eyes, he found out that it was actually a big wooden barrel on top of him that was making things... harder. At first, he was surprised, then confused, then enraged. He tried hard to remember, but it seemed he had forgotten what happened after they returned to the barbecue house and stayed there until early morning. The teen pushed the barrel on the floor and went to take a shower while, unknown to him, the Nine-Tails was already working on healing his body from the damage caused by alcohol.

After an hour or so, the blonde shinobi was walking the streets of Konoha, enjoying the sunny day. He was happy, almost blissfully so. His promise to Sakura was finally fulfilled, even though he didn't do anything, in the end, to actually bring Sasuke back. But that didn't matter anymore. Although the issue with the Fifth the Uchiha had mentioned still bothered him. In the past, he would've already forgotten about it, but now he was quite concerned. Granny Tsunade still hasn't contacted him to let him know about Sasuke, so that meant she was deliberately hiding the information about him. Well, he'd find out the truth sooner or later. For now, he needed something to eat...

"Oi, Naruto! I was wondering if you'd show up today." He heard a very familiar voice as he walking past by Ramen Ichiraku. It was the old man waving, inviting him to sit down. Naruto smiled and ran to take his usual seat – luckily free at the time. Around fifteen minutes passed as they were talking about the most mundane things. The man's daughter Ayame actively participating in the talk and, unknown to the boy and probably to herself, trying to fix her looks to look better in his presence. But, when Naruto finally received a bowl of his favourite ramen, there was no hope that he'd notice anything around anymore, of course.

"Itadakimasu!" he almost yelled out, as he began to eat. Eventually, Sakura and Ino stopped by. It seemed they were on their way elsewhere when they noticed Konoha's favourite ninja at the Ramen shop – or, given that they both knew his habits thoroughly, maybe they'd been actually looking for him.

"So you woke up only an hour ago, huh?" Asked Sakura. The blonde ninja laughed shyly. "You look surprisingly well," added the medic ninja with a slight sadness, rubbing her face. Although the girls didn't mention that they were in the same boat, it was still pretty obvious no matter the makeup. The night and following morning were a bit too much for all of them it seemed. Still, they joined Naruto in his feast and ordered something for themselves even though neither was exactly a fan of ramen.

Meanwhile, none of them noticed another former classmate of theirs silently approach them. Not that he was trying to be stealthy on purpose or anything like that, of course, striding toward them steadily and firmly. But, Sasuke still didn't make a sound as he came close to the three of them sitting at the table. Obviously, none of them could see him as they were sitting with their backs facing the street, so when the Uchiha entered the place, he had a moment to analyze who exactly he was seeing and how to behave in their presence.

Quite ironically, Naruto was accompanied by the two girls who had once used to be Sasuke's greatest fangirls in the entire village. He recognized them instantly without having to study them at all; these two, he would never in his life confuse them with anybody else. If anything, it made him want to go away and come to talk to his friend some other time, so he even took a step backwards. But then the Uchiha decided that it was far below him to run away like that. After all, if these two remained the same as before, they weren't worth any of his attention at all and he would just make them shut up. And if they had changed in these few years of his absence, maybe they weren't as bad as before anymore.

He stepped forward again, stopping right next to the three of them.

"Naruto," he said calmly, watching how Sakura and Ino instantly flinched at the mere sound of his voice, slightly jumping on their seats. Though he definitely wasn't someone who liked pranks, it still almost made him chuckle inwardly. The idiot probably hadn't told them about his return just yet… Such perfect timing. "I need to talk to you."

The two kunoichis slowly turned their heads and raised their eyes to look at him towering over them. Sakura just stared at the ninja blankly, thinking that maybe the alcohol was still very much active in her system, or perhaps something funny accidentally got in her food. Ino choked on her noodles and started beating on her chest, coughing. However, the jinchūriki seemed to be absolutely unfazed by this. He continued eating steadily, just gave a small nod to Sasuke without turning around.

"Mhm!" he mumbled something with his mouth full. After a few seconds of grave silence, he finally finished up his bowl, drinking the soup his usual sonorous way. "Ha-ah! That was good. Thanks, old man!" he left the money on the table, and only then finally turned around to look at Sasuke closely. Before he could say anything else, he felt a very tight grip around his neck by the rose-haired ninja.

"What the hell?! You sound like you already knew he was here!" She looked angry, while Naruto's expression became genuinely scared. Sakura then switched her gaze to Sasuke. "And you! How can you just casually walk in here after all this time?!" she yelled at him as well. The gravity of the situation still hadn't seeped in completely with her. The Yamanaka girl was just watching them all silently, trying to comprehend what just happened. Sakura continued to strangle Naruto while he tried to make excuses for the situation.

"You're really... back?" said Ino quietly. That was the phrase that stopped the fighting between Naruto and Sakura and made them remember the cause of it. Naruto just smiled as he looked at his female teammate, still being locked in her grip. Sakura finally snapped out of her rage trip and looked up on Sasuke. The girl's eyes only so slightly started to water, but she quickly wiped her face with the other hand and smiled as well.

Sasuke's gaze slid from Ino to Sakura back and forth as he was choosing words wisely. He didn't really want to make enemies here right now but at the same time… He certainly didn't feel like bending too much, at least definitely not to the point of stopping being himself. That's why he decided to say the only thing he would say under these circumstances…

"I have legs so I can walk wherever I want, Sakura. Or did you think that I need your permission?" His brow slightly raised while his overall demeanour remained cold and indifferent. His eyes then returned to Naruto who still appeared to be at the pink-haired kunoichi's mercy, though now it looked more like a hug than an attempt to kill him as her arms were now simply wrapped around his neck. "It's the mission I told you about. I realized that I need your advice."

Sakura then finally let go of Naruto, perhaps a bit too quickly, slightly blushing in the process and then looking at Sasuke again, frowning. Although his words didn't sound pleasant, they certainly resembled the things he used to say before he left. It was him without a doubt.

"Do whatever you want, just don't disappear in the fire like the last time." She retorted, though still looking very happy. Ino, however, found his response rude and frowned at it. Her blind love for the perfect Sasuke has faded over the years, so she was feeling probably a bit more rational than her ex-rival.

"Come on, you can do better than that," Yamanaka said to the Uchiha, thinking to herself that maybe Sasuke's social skills atrophied even further over these past few years. She also found it funny how he resembled his replacement in Team Seven right now, though was considerably grimmer. She smiled a bit at the thought but changed her face pretty quickly to a friendly-relaxed one.

"And what is this mission you're talking about?" Sakura finally asked the next most obvious question. Uzumaki was standing near Sasuke already, trying to keep his distance from Sakura for now as he was getting used to breathing freely again.

"Hey, I know it's kinda shocking, and I'm sorry I didn't say anything about it last night. He's really back, that's for sure though!" he patted Sasuke on the back, which made the latter visually uncomfortable. "But let's talk about this later, okay? Granny Tsunade knows of his return as well, so she'll most likely brief the rest of us about this when she decides it's the time. We can talk more about everything later. Maybe even this evening, huh?" he looked enthusiastically at Sasuke and Sakura. To his surprise, both looked unimpressed by his suggestion, though each for their own reasons.

"Anyway... Sure, ask me anything. You wanna do it here or…?" turning again to face Sasuke, said Naruto.

"Doesn't matter, might as well do it here," said the Uchiha, realizing that it would be better to lower their vigilance by not being overly secretive, yet at the same time not wanting to reveal any important details to any of them including the jinchūriki himself. "I'm basically looking for a crew. Particularly, a few ninjas who are either sensory type or specialize in tracking. They have to be trustworthy and able to keep their mouths shut. Do you have anybody in mind?" asked the Uchiha, diligently ignoring the girls. Although he could admit that seeing Ino not being exactly friendly towards him rather pleased the ninja than upset him. Maybe now she had some brain in her skull after all. At the very least she was wise enough not to get obsessed over someone like him who had always been nearly hostile towards her.

All the three of them looked at Sasuke, appearing a bit confused. Everything was progressing too fast, but then again, that's how the Uchiha had always been – straight to business, no unnecessary sentiments. Naruto wanted to ask what was this about, and why did his friend need certain people all of a sudden, but decided to leave that for another time. He realized that Sasuke probably didn't trust anybody but him even though he hadn't made it clear to the girls.

Sakura shook her head, thinking to herself that, of course, this probably wasn't going to be the happy ending. There was always something to make things bitter when it came to Sasuke... She let out a visible sigh, and leaned back on the table, now facing the street absently.

"I'm a sensory type." The blonde kunoichi suddenly said, while looking down her glass of water thoughtfully.

"Really? I never knew about that!" said Naruto, looking sincerely surprised.

"Why would you? Not like we spend a lot of time together," she replied calmly, switching her gaze from Naruto to Sasuke, and resting her head on her hand. Uzumaki gave her an apologetic look.

"Sorry... But oh! For the tracking part, I think Neji will do great. After all, he's the one who noticed and followed you yesterday," the blond shinobi said and smiled. "Then there's Kiba, and maybe even Shino..."

"Oh please, as if Kiba would be able to keep his mouth shut about anything," Sakura interrupted him. "Neji-san and Ino would be your best bet, Sasuke-kun, if that's what you're looking for specifically," she added, now being more serious than a minute ago.

"I'll consider that," said Sasuke dryly, not looking at Sakura but glancing at Ino again, as if estimating her briefly. "Anybody else? And also, which of them is also a good fighter?" The question he was really meant to ask was 'which of them has a good kill record', but that would be far too blatant even for someone like him.

"Good morning, kids!" Another familiar voice coming from behind suddenly interrupted their conversation. "Yo, Sasuke. Didn't expect to see you this early, let alone here of all places."

"Kakashi." The Uchiha scowled. A hearty reunion with his former sensei wasn't exactly what he had in his mind for today…

"Glad to hear that you still remember my name," the grey-haired ninja chuckled, "How are things?"

"Hn. They were fine until you showed up." Sasuke turned away stubbornly, already beginning to regret coming here in such a daring manner.

"Oh, really?" the elder man drawled, smiling behind his mask. "Well, that's sad to hear. Because I have some news for you, and you might dislike it. So you could say that I've come to spoil your mood even more."

"What is it, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Sakura, appearing slightly worried. Naruto frowned but said nothing, and so did Ino. Sasuke himself kept up the mask of indifference, although he definitely didn't like the sound it either.

"Hokage-sama wants you and Naruto to get promoted to chūnin as soon as possible, but since the nearest exam is in five months, you two will have to do a certain mission together to receive the special award. Or rather, we all are going to do it as Team Seven."

Sasuke's eye twitched.

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah. Sadly I am. But, this is Hokage's order. She wants us to arrive at her office in two days; I assume she's giving you some time to readjust and have some rest and so on."

Just what is she thinking… ' _Damn you, Senju,'_  thought the Uchiha angrily.

"That is SO cool!" suddenly exclaimed Naruto, grinning so widely that one could think that his birthday came earlier than it should have. "Can't wait to get some action! Finally, we're all back together! Right, Sasuke?"

Gosh, just shut the fuck up…

"I don't have any time to readjust or whatever you call it. There are things I must do," he snapped, turning back to Naruto. "Where can I find Neji Hyūga? And the others you mentioned."

"They should be at their homes. Unless they have any other business to attend to…," said Sakura. She grabbed a napkin from the table, took out a pen from her hip bag and started drawing something.

"As for your other question about combat capability, Neji comes to mind first as well, you might remember how good he was a few years ago. Kiba would be too loud, unpredictable even. Shino would do well instead of him, but only if you convince him to work without his teammates," added Ino, looking a bit bored as she heard that only Team Seven would be getting a mission. Sakura finished drawing a map and handed the napkin to Sasuke.

"Here. That's where you'll find the Hyūga compound and Aburame's clan territory. I also drew directions to Yamanaka's flower shop in case if you'll need to speak with Ino later." She then turned to Kakashi. "Is there anything else we need to do before the briefing with Tsunade-sama in two days, sensei?" she asked.

"Yeah, did she give you any details? Anything you can share now?" asked Naruto impatiently.

"Eh, unfortunately, nothing I could tell you guys at the moment. All I know is this will be a very difficult mission, so you better get prepared. Oh, and also! Sasuke, if you are going to Hyūga's, would you please do me a favour and give this to Hiashi-san? I'm afraid I'm short on time today, especially now that I've dropped by to say hello to my favourite students." The sly smirk behind the mask was beyond obvious to everyone. Sasuke realized that Kakashi was probably lying about not having any free time, simply wanting to force the Uchiha to do his job. Still, this was a good opportunity to break into the Hyūga clan's territory, so the ninja reluctantly accepted the scroll without complaints.

"Fine. See you," he said curtly, walking out of the eatery.

Since it was just past noon, the streets were pretty crowded, especially with the late summer sun being so bright this day – the weather was extraordinarily good. Everyone seemed to be willing to spend this day outside if possible, and it was honestly hard to blame them. Fortunately, not many people there recognized Sasuke, so he got to his destination without any unwanted disturbances.

He instantly spotted the two guards near the only gate leading to the clan's territory. Frankly, he wasn't in the mood to explain himself to them, so he decided to get inside unnoticed just out of the rational will to save some time. Clearly, they weren't very well trained since nobody noticed him jumping over the wooden paling. As soon as he was on the private ground, the Uchiha activated his Sharingan and with a few more jumps reached the second floor of the main building, slipping inside through an open window.

"For those who utilize a dōjutsu capable of seeing everything around, they're not too wary," he muttered to himself, almost feeling disappointed by how easily he had infiltrated the place.

The mansion itself seemed to be at the very least half-empty at the moment. He didn't meet a single person in the corridors as he silently walked across the building, only hearing a few noises coming from various rooms here and there. Eventually, he stopped, finally noticing a girl with long dark-blue hair who was standing near the window, staring at the distance with her hands locked in front of her, her thumbs nervously rubbing one against another. She seemed deep in thought, but he didn't care.

"Hey," he said quietly, ruining the absolute silence that filled the place. She flinched, turning her head to look at him and then frowned, apparently confused by seeing an unfamiliar face. But, a second later her white eyes widened. She slowly opened her mouth, though unable to utter a sound for some reason. "Where can I find your clan's head? I have a delivery for him," the ninja said patiently, realizing that she had just recognized him.

"Um–uh–well…"

"Hinata-sama! It's ready, I–Sasuke?" the already familiar brown-haired ninja walked out the nearest room, holding a carefully packed set of clothes in his hands. "What are you doing here? Got lost?"

As tempting as it was to say something like equally provocative in response, the Uchiha decided to control his emotions and remain calm no matter what. Especially given that his own business actually had to do with this very guy, and he had just spared Sasuke from having to search for him.

"Yeah. Was just looking for someone like you to show me the way."

"The way out, I presume?" Neji frowned, looking quite unfriendly.

"N-Neji-nii-san!" suddenly yelped the girl, frowning at her cousin. "This is impolite. S-Sasuke-san is probably here for a reason."

"Apologies, Hinata-sama," instantly said the shinobi, not removing his eyes off the Uchiha. "What brings you here?"

"This," Sasuke showed him the sealed scroll Kakashi had given him. "And I was also looking for you."

"For me?" Neji blinked, this time looking taken by surprise. "For what, if I may ask?"

"It's a private matter."

"Whatever you want to tell me, you may say it in Hinata-sama's presence," said the Hyūga firmly, almost making Sasuke lose control over his increasing irritation.

"Really? Then maybe I should talk to her instead? Since she is obviously the one with authority here," he mused impassively, looking at Hinata who blushed at his words, looking both nervous and scared now.

"Sasuke–!" Neji began dangerously, narrowing his eyes.

"What do we have here?" a loud voice boomed through the passage as the head of the Hyūga clan showed up from the stairs. He kept his hands in the sleeves of his robe, looking perfectly calm as per usual.

"I see you're finally feeling well after your nightly adventures..." he looked over the two young Hyūgas who gave the man equally ashamed looks. "Honestly, I've expected better of you," he added, looking slightly disappointed, though not really angry or mad at them. Letting out a sigh, he finally looked at the uninvited guest in the room.

"I thought I heard you had something for me, young Uchiha?"

"Yeah," Sasuke handed him the scroll. "Kakashi told me to give you this."

"Hm-m," the eldest shinobi took the scroll and carefully unwrapped it, his eyes quickly running over what was written in it. "I see. Thank you for delivering it so swiftly, this is indeed important. Is there anything else I or our clan could help you with?" The man frankly sounded just too nice, especially considering that the Hyūga and the Uchiha had never exactly been friends in the past. Moreso given the reputation Sasuke had in the village at the moment – and the boy had no delusions on this matter.

"I've come to ask… for help," he almost winced by the ending of the sentence, though realizing that right now he had to swallow his pride. "I was given a certain mission by the Fifth, and I'm currently gathering a suitable crew. I need someone with Byakugan to assist me."

Hiashi paused, putting away the scroll in one of his pockets.

"I see. Of course. I think you can have a chat with Neji here about that. Since it's a mission coming from the Hokage herself, I imagine those who aren't involved shouldn't hear anything about it." He gave Hinata a pointed look, and the girl immediately caught his gaze and nodded. She quickly took the clothes Neji had brought, and joined Hiashi's side, now standing slightly behind his back.

"I take it you have no further business with me specifically. As soon as you've spoken with Neji, you may leave the compound through the gates. No need to jump across the branches again," the man added, giving a small bow towards the Uchiha, and then walked away. Hinata gave a worried look at her cousin but reluctantly left as well, closing the door that led to the stairs.

"I'm listening." The jōnin sounded professional, and perhaps a bit too impassive. He wasn't pleased with Sasuke's choice of an entrance but decided to let that slide for now. Hiashi didn't seem to care too much, after all, so he had no reason to either.

Sasuke suddenly found himself dumbfounded. He hadn't actually thought his plan through this far; perhaps he hadn't really believed he would be able to get a Hyūga to work for him so easily. And yet he was lucky enough to basically have the clan's head permission to command this guy; now he wouldn't be able to be too cocky which was, without a doubt, a good development.

"How private is this place exactly?" asked the Uchiha, implying that he wasn't sure how freely he could talk right now.

Neji looked at him questionably.

"It is private enough. It's one of the few quarters used by Hinata-sama. If you want, we can go somewhere else..." The man crossed his arms on his chest. "What is this about, Sasuke?"

The Uchiha sighed, rapidly thinking. Maybe it was indeed a secure place, but it was only such for a member of the Hyūga clan, not for him. He needed to ensure that nobody could possibly overhear them... Besides, he'd wanted to try it out for a while by now anyway, so Sasuke decided that it was a good opportunity. Especially since it would definitely put this guy in his place for good by showing him the difference in their powers…

Sasuke's eyes suddenly turned red, the three tomoe pattern twisting and forming a six-pronged one. Before Neji was able to react, he was caught in a genjutsu that probably was nowhere as strong as Itachi's Tsukuyomi, but was still potent enough to render a Hyūga completely helpless.

"Now it is private enough. Listen, it's a top-secret mission the Fifth gave me. Before I tell you the details, I need to know if you're willing to help and if I can trust you, or I should rather look for someone else. Nobody else is allowed to know it without my permission."

The Hyūga didn't reply right away, trying to comprehend what just happened. For some reason, he felt numb, and it was hard to move his jaw.

"You have a funny way to ask for help... Uchiha." Neji growled. He finally got used to this unpleasant feeling that Sasuke put him under. "I'm ready to help... The Fifth, or whatever Hiashi-sama asks of me. Which is exactly what you've got right now."

Sasuke nodded.

"Fine. The thing is that the Fifth believes that a certain man in the village is in charge of some criminal business that has already caused undetermined damage to the Leaf, and it possibly keeps causing it. Our task is to get as much information on this man as we can. To spy on him, basically. For now anyway." He decided not to tell Neji that the real goal was to kill the subject in one way or another, at least not yet. "His name is Danzō Shimura."

Neji felt as if the invisible constraints were being lifted slowly. He could finally think clearly for a moment.

"Danzō Shimura?" he repeated, his eyes widening. "One of the Konoha Council…?" The Hyūga shook his head, trying to think of a reason for this kind of order to come from the Fifth. Part of him wanted to object since Sasuke's arguments weren't convincing enough. He felt he was omitting something, but with Hiashi-sama's approvement of this, and if the claim that the Fifth was in charge was true...

"Fine. I can do that. We will have to discuss further details though, like what information you're looking for specifically, points of contact for sharing the information and so on."

"Fine by me. We're getting sent on some other mission in the next couple of days, so you have some time to think. You may go to the Fifth to confirm my words, I don't care. What I want you to do is to think about other people who could help us gather information on Danzō. Can you make it?"

"Yeah..." Neji was already thinking of what other people he should involve in this. He wasn't really happy getting anyone else into a dirty business like that, honestly. However, a mission was a mission. They were all equal when it came to this kind of job.

"Will do. Will there be any way to contact you?"

"I'll find you myself as soon as we return. If you have something urgent to discuss, just come to my place, I'm sure you can tell if I'm home or not," Sasuke said it in a deliberately casual tone as if everyone was supposed to know where he lived, just like they always had prior to the massacre. He could see a shade of confusion in the white eyes of his new accomplice, but then Neji understood what he was saying and nodded. "Later then."

"Got it," replied Neji. "See you."

Sasuke undid the genjutsu, deactivating his Sharingan and instantly turning away as he felt the horrible burn in his right eye. He covered it with his palm, almost hissing as he strode towards the stairs that led to the exit if he imagined the infrastructure of the place right. A few seconds later the pain decreased, becoming somewhat tolerable, so he lowered his hand and frowned. Was this what Itachi had felt whenever he used his Mangekyō? If this was normal, then it was truly astonishing how his late brother had managed to keep fighting in this state, especially after using it multiple times in a row…

Lost in his thought for a moment, he almost bumped into the same girl he had met back in that corridor – Neji's cousin. _'Hinata, was it...?'_

"Oh–I'm sorry, Sasuke-san, I–I wasn't looking where I was going.' She quickly bowed in an apology, looking at him with a mixture of fear and curiosity. At this moment Sasuke silently thanked his own vigilance for deciding to take his conversation with Neji into the genjutsu world – from what it looked like, she might have tried to eavesdrop.

"It's fine," he shrugged, deciding not to make a fuss about his conclusion. Being a member of the Main House of her clan, he could understand her wanting to know what was going on, especially when her own father had tossed her away like that. It was something he could actually relate to, even though it had happened very long ago.

He already began to walk towards the gate when her soft voice reached his ears once again,

"It's g-good to have you back, Sasuke-san. I–I hope it feels nice to be home again."

The Uchiha stopped. Not that he wasn't ready to hear something like that, especially from some silly girl, but still… Seeing her in the midst of her family cradle, surrounded by all these people who probably loved her and cared for her… Living in the place full of life and warmth, supported by her clan… It made him remember what his home was at the moment. Empty. Lifeless. Dark. Dead…

"Feels nice, huh?" He looked at her over his shoulder, narrowing his eyes. "Why don't you come and see it yourself just how nice it is, Hyūga?"

Her own eyes widened at his sudden passive outburst, and she muttered perplexedly:

"Uh–I–I'm sorry–"

"Forget it." He turned away and began to move again, slightly increasing his pace.

 _'What an impudent fool...,'_ he thought bitterly, the girl's words still ringing in his ears. He didn't know why, but this brief encounter with her had spoiled his mood far more than the previous conversation with Ino and Sakura.


	4. A Monster Within

**Chapter 4. A Monster Within**

"Alright, everyone's here at last. Let's get down to business," Tsunade smirked, quickly weaving a few seals with her hands as soon as the door behind Kakashi's back closed.

Every window in the office instantly closed with enhanced curtains, not a single sound breaking in – and out too, Sasuke presumed as his gaze returned at the Hokage. Such secrecy typically promised nothing good to a regular shinobi. But, from his point of view, it was the contrary in that particular situation. It'd been just two days since he'd returned to the village, and he was already dying for some action. Sitting home alone certainly wasn't his cup of tea, even though he didn't quite enjoy the current company either.

"The details of your mission are pretty easy to grasp. Basically, your two teams will temporarily form a single unit – a strike team, to be precise. Your task is to track down and to kill Kisame Hoshigaki, one of the remaining members of Akatsuki. Here is all the data we have on him including his presumed current whereabouts. We know the exact coordinates of their hideout thanks to Sasuke who kindly provided us with this and a bit of other information." She looked at him with an apparent appreciation which he, of course, pretended not to notice. He had promised to cooperate after all. It was nothing special.

"That's why we picked this particular lineup. You lads," she looked at Kiba, Shino and Hinata, who were standing a tad aside of the rest, looking the tiniest bit uncomfortable, "Will do the tracking job. Kakashi will be in charge of the mission as a whole. Naruto will be the decoy; he has to be used as a bait to lure Kisame out. Sasuke, your job is to be the guide for everyone as soon as you arrive at the place, for you're the only one who has been there."

Everyone in the room threw either curious or fearful glances at him – a predictable reaction he'd already gotten used to in the last few days, so he decided to ignore it as well.

"Yamato, Sai, you are the combat support. Make sure not to let anyone get killed. Sakura will back you up as the medic, of course. Any questions?"

For a few seconds, the room was filled with silence, which eventually was interrupted by Shikaku Nara, Hokage's advisor.

"If I may, Hokage-sama? I have a question," he spoke. Everybody in the room looked at him, including the Fifth who gave him a nod of approval. "In my opinion, it would've been better to send Team Ten alongside with Team Eight, as they already have experience fighting members of this organization. Unfortunately, they're on a different mission right now as far as I'm aware. So I was wondering if this operation could potentially be postponed until their return?"

Indeed, unlike Kurenai's team, Team Ten was familiar with a member of Akatsuki. Unfortunately, yesterday the team had been assigned to another mission by the request of Neji Hyūga who in turn, unknown to most people in the room, also had already been assigned for some kind of special mission details of which even Shikaku didn't know.

Sasuke suppressed a satisfied grin. That Hyūga guy was quick to act for sure, whether he liked him personally or not.

Tsunade shook her head.

"No. We've no time to waste. Team Ten would be a good addition for sure, but we need to use the resources we have. Team Eight will do just fine, and we already have enough power to deal with that man," she firmly replied.

"Damn straight! As if we need those snobs to kick some ass," Kiba yelled out, raising his fist. After a second he felt a slap on the back of his head. It came from Shino. "Oi, what's the big idea?!" the boy whined.

"Mind your manners, Kiba. We're in the Hokage's office, that's why. And this is an important mission. Don't humiliate us in front of everybody." Shino's voice was calm and impassive, yet also intimidating somehow. Kiba immediately shut up, once again noting in his mind that his teammate could be creepy sometimes. "Apologies, Tsunade-sama," added Shino.

"Does this mean that Sakura will be under Yamato's command?" Kakashi decided to clarify that.

"Only tactically. You're the best commander when it comes to combat, so I don't want you to get unnecessarily distracted. That fight won't be easy by any means," said Tsunade, to which Hatake simply nodded.

"Understood. I have no questions then."

"I have a question, if I may," said Yamato, making Tsunade turn her head to look at him. "If Naruto is the decoy, and we three are supporting, it leaves us with only two people to actually directly engage Kisame – Kakashi-san and Sasuke. Are you sure this will be enough?"

"Yes. Both of them possess Mangekyō Sharingan which is the key to our plan," said the woman firmly.

"Mangekyō?! Isn't it dangerous to use?" asked Sakura worriedly.

"It is, but we're not taking any chances," said Sasuke abruptly, instantly drawing everyone's attention again. "Orochimaru told me this guy is one of the strongest members of Akatsuki. We can't afford a continuous fight; he must be killed as quickly as possible. I can handle it."

"We can handle it," Kakashi corrected him with a smile, which Sasuke once again ignored.

This whole time Naruto kept standing silently, with his arms crossed on his chest. By the look of his face, one could say that he was very much deep in thought. Perhaps even to the point where he was having problems with understanding of a few things.

"You've been quite wary of using me for anything until now, granny Tsunade, especially as a bait." The Uzumaki emphasized on the word "using", as this was the first time the Fifth ever referred to him in such a manner. The teen obviously didn't like that and had no problem of showing it.

His teammates caught on that as well, now that he mentioned it. Sakura wanted to say something in Tsunade's defence, but seeing Naruto's serious expression, she decided to stay quiet for now.

"Sasuke got back to the village only a couple days ago. And since that meeting in your office that evening…," the boy continued – Tsunade's eyes widened as he clearly meant the conversation she'd had with Sasuke, coming to realise that he'd been spying on them that night, "You've slightly changed." finished Naruto.

The room remained in awkward silence once again. Hokage stared directly into Naruto's eyes. Could it be that he'd figured it out that this was all Sasuke's plan, to begin with?

"That's irrelevant for now. We can talk about it after later." She dismissed whatever Naruto was trying to imply, to which the ninja didn't react passively. He made a step forward and clenched his fists but was quickly stopped by Sai's stretched out arm gripping his elbow. Uzumaki looked at him in confusion, while Sai only answered with a polite smile.

"She's right, Naruto. Now's not the best time. Let's focus on what's ahead of us for now." To everyone's surprise, the least socially savvy shinobi in the room was also the most rational one at the moment.

"Tch. Fine." The blond ninja complied, visibly relaxing. He walked up to the nearby wall and leaned on it, once again crossing his arms on his chest. He wasn't sure himself why, but Naruto didn't like this plan at all. Whenever the subject of Tsunade and Sasuke came up, especially seeing how the Hokage was now accustomed to the Uchiha's presence, he felt as if something was off. He couldn't understand what exactly, or even why he felt this way. However, deep inside, the Tailed Beast was growing restless whenever Sasuke was mentioned.

Of course, Naruto couldn't know what the fox was thinking right now. Working with an Uchiha? Especially one that has betrayed his host already once? The Nine-Tails didn't seem to like the idea at all. Unknown to Naruto, considering his past encounters with this clan's members, the fox would prefer to just kill him now. Unfortunately for the beast, the seal was completely blocking whatever attempts at manipulation of Naruto he had. Still, this burning hatred that the bijū was feeling towards the Uchiha – it was rubbing off on Naruto as well.

"I think we're all set then. Any last bits of information about the mission before we leave to prepare?" Kakashi asked casually.

"Yes, the duration of the whole thing," said Tsunade, sitting down at her table and locking her hands in front of her face. "Since it's uncertain when exactly Kisame will show up, consider this a long-term one and get equipped accordingly. It goes for all of you. You might have to camp there for days, or even weeks."

"W-Weeks…?" mumbled Hinata, looking nervous for some reason.

Tsunade glanced at her and nodded with recognition.

"Yeah. I'll talk to Hiashi about that, he'll have to postpone the ceremony. Sorry, we can't help it. I hope you don't mind."

The girl's lips twitched, revealing the tiniest happy smile.

"N-No, not at all, Hokage-sama."

"Good. You're all dismissed then. Naruto, stay," she suddenly said firmly.

Everyone quickly left the room, leaving the jinchūriki alone with the Fifth shortly. As the door closed, she sighed and pursed her lips.

"Look, brat… I understand that you'd rather prefer fighting Kisame alongside Kakashi and Sasuke, but it's too dangerous to let you do that. If he somehow captures you and slips away, it's over. Not just your life, but our village as well. Maybe even the world, considering that they've gathered seven of the beasts already. Do you understand?"

Naruto kept peering at the Fifth for a few seconds as if waiting for her to add something else. She didn't.

"That wasn't a problem during the rescue mission with those Suna people... You read the report, Itachi could've taken everybody easily. It's a miracle he didn't!" Naruto jolted away from the wall and walked up to Tsunade's table. "Or are you tryna say he wasn't a danger? See, you're contradicting yourself here. Using me as bait? And you're trying to argue that it would be less dangerous than fighting that guy? Give me a break!" Uzumaki slammed his hands on the table. The Hokage didn't flinch, looking directly into the boy's angry eyes.

"Something's off, even an idiot like me can feel that," he then added more quietly, not knowing that maybe it wasn't necessarily his feeling, rather than that of someone else he had inside of him. "Sasuke comes back to the village, for some reason meeting with you first of all people first – and yes, we saw everything!" The blond boy wasn't trying to be secretive at all. The Fifth noted in her mind that there was a 'we', meaning someone else had seen the exchange as well.

"Stop yelling, will you?" Tsunade sighed, leaning on the back of her chair. She looked surprisingly relaxed considering that Naruto was about to explode right in front of her, and especially given that she could sense Kyubi's chakra boiling inside of him.

"You weren't really fighting Itachi back then, it was just a weakened clone. Or did you forget it already? As for Sasuke…" She looked away, suddenly appearing a bit conflicted. "It's true that we got along in a way. As much as we could have. We have an agreement… Well, not an official one, but that's how I understood what he wants of me. I give him the freedom to protect the village the way he views the best, and help him as much as I find tolerable. In return, he doesn't question my authority as the Hokage, and follows my orders as my subordinate. This was the only way I could force him to stay… You don't know what he originally intended to do, do you?" She looked into the boy's blue eyes, instantly noticing a hint of confusion in the sullen expression. "He wanted to take Itachi's place in Akatsuki to work as a double agent for the sake of Konoha. For the sake of all of us. I found that something I could respect."

Naruto kept looking at her, thinking on what to say next. He let out a sigh and stepped back from the table.

"You're still missing the point, and I'm done trying to get it out of ya." Naruto frowned, looking disappointed. He didn't like how she was speaking to him like to a child. "And Sasuke…," He frowned, comprehending what she'd just told him. "Good job stopping him from doing something so stupid then, I guess," was the only thing he thought of to say. "Thanks for that." The last phrase actually sounded genuine.

However, besides that one thing that sort of clarified Sasuke's reasoning to stay, Naruto didn't feel like he got what he wanted. Seeing as how the Fifth was persistently slightly shifting the subject, and avoiding things to say, he decided it was useless to continue this talk. The teen turned around and headed towards the door.

Tsunade took a deep breath, and as soon as she stopped hearing the sound of his footsteps she undid the genjutsu of secrecy. Of course, she could understand Naruto's frustration. But, she had to admit that Sasuke's plan made sense. If they were lucky enough, they would be able not only to kill Kisame, but also to get some information on the leader. And then…

She narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists so tightly that the bloody-red nails dug into her skin.

Then she would get her revenge.

– **=OwO=** –

"Are you sure you haven't forgotten anything, Hinata-sama?" asked her former bodyguard, standing a few yards behind her back and watching her slightly affectionately as she was gathering various things for the mission.

"Yes, Ko, thank you for your concern." She smiled, suppressing the will to shake her head. This man would probably still treat her like a little girl even when they both would be grey-haired…

"This is going to be a difficult mission, isn't it?" He muttered worriedly more to himself than to his mistress.

"I'm afraid I cannot tell. I'm sorry," she replied automatically for the third time in the last hour, putting a couple of balls of wool into her backpack. Catching Ko's searching look, she spread her arms and giggled nervously. "W-Well, we were told it would involve camping, s-so… I thought I could take something to distract myself… If we have to wait, that is."

"Oh, I see, but… Knitting? Since when?" He smirked at her, raising his eyebrow a bit.

She smiled and shrugged indefinitely, closing the backpack and looking across her room to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything.

"When are you departing?" he asked then.

She glanced at the clock.

"Um… In two hours."

Ko smiled warmly, slowly nodding but still looking a bit anxious.

"Would you like to have a cup of tea together then? As a goodbye."

"Oh…" She blushed a bit, looking at the clock once again and then she pursed her lips nervously. "I–I'm sorry, but – there is something I wanted to do… B-Before we go, that is," stuttered the girl and frowned at her own thoughts.

"Ah… I see," said the man sadly, quickly nodding his head a few times. "Well, I won't be holding you back then. Please take care and come home in one piece, Hinata-sama!"

She chuckled again, covering her mouth with her palm.

"Please don't worry this much, Ko. Nothing is going to happen to me. N-Naruto-kun will be there... and others too."

"The boy, huh?" He frowned at the mention of the jinchūriki, though trying hard to hide his displeasure in front of Hinata. Just like most people in their clan, he wasn't exactly a fan of the knucklehead, to say the least. He didn't know why, but his Tailed Beast was especially hated by the Hyūga historically.

"I–I need to go. I'll come to change and take all this before we leave for the mission, please don't worry. We can have the tea together then!" She smiled at him warmly, making the man smile in return contrary to his troubled mind.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was sitting on the old couch of the guest room, staring blankly at the unplugged TV, lost in his thought. There were just too many things he had to consider, reconsider and comprehend, but what was bothering him the most at the moment was, of course, the upcoming hunt.

They were going to step into the wolf's lair, and all of them could very well die in the next few days. If Madara would be at the hideout the moment they approached it, nobody would be safe. In theory, maybe he had a chance to talk himself out of it by pretending that he came there to hand over Naruto, but not only that it would be very far from the truth, and the Uchiha wasn't even considering such a thing anyway, obviously.

He knew that Kisame was going to die soon, and failure was not an option.

However, even if… no, when they would take his head, they would have to retreat as soon as possible. But, Madara could use space-time ninjutsu. There had to be a way to go around that… He just had to figure it out before they were there.

Roughly tossing his sword off the couch, he got up as the weapon fell on the carpet with a thud. Maybe he just needed some fresh air; the house, despite all his efforts, still wasn't exactly healthy nor pleasant for him to stay in.

The ninja opened the door and walked out, inhaling the fresh air. He looked at the sky – the sun was already leaning towards the horizon, slowly painting the sky in a colourful tessellation of golden and red shades. A beautiful sight he didn't bother to appreciate.

There were roughly two hours before they would depart. Yes, it was wise to move out at night. The fewer people would notice their movement, the smaller was the chance that the information would reach Akatsuki… The boy wasn't quite sure if they were watching him by Madara's order or not, but that definitely wasn't impossible.

He walked around the house, proceeding towards the farthest end of the empty street. Still deep in his thought, he almost missed the familiar lonely girl standing near the ruins of one of the houses he had crushed a few days ago, studying the broken wall with a perplexed sorrowful face. She was biting her lips, and her eyes looked like they were about to water…

'What exactly did she notice there…?' He thought, quickly shaking his head and frowning. No, that was a wrong question. The right would be…

"What are you doing here?" He asked calmly, making her jump on her spot and quickly turn to face him, instantly blushing under his grim gaze.

"Uh–well…" She lowered her eyes as if afraid to look at him, biting her lip again and locking her hands sheepishly in front of her. He noticed that her fingers were shaking as she quickly paled, so she locked them more tightly, still avoiding his stare.

"Well?" He pressed, sounding a bit harsher now. He didn't like sudden visitors. He especially didn't like them when it was someone he found annoying.

"I–You… S-Sasuke-san, you t-told me to c-come and s-see–"

"What the hell are you babbling? Can't you talk in a way that would at least make sense?" He was now sounding downright rough, quickly losing his patience.

Not that he was surprised, but he hadn't expected it either when her face suddenly changed to an expression full of resolve. She raised her head, licked her lips and coughed a bit, lifting her chin in an almost prideful manner – as if trying to show Sasuke that she wasn't afraid of him.

"Y-You told me to come here and see your home myself. And so I did."

He didn't say anything right away, observing her stoic posture with his angry eyes. 'Just what kind of a game are you trying to play here?' He thought darkly, getting reassured that his initial impression of this kunoichi wasn't wrong – he didn't like her at all.

"Fine. You've seen it, so you must be satisfied now. Now get the hell out of here." He turned away, walking back towards his house. All of a sudden, he didn't feel like going for a walk anymore…

"I apologize, Sasuke-san."

He stopped, though not turning around. The young man then closed his eyes and clenched his fists, praying that he would have enough patience not to blast a hole through her chest the next moment.

"What is it?"

"It–it was very foolish of me to say that… N-Now I understand how inconsiderate of me it was. Please, pardon me."

He didn't react right away – her words definitely caught him by surprise.

'Fine, maybe she isn't exactly a lost cause.' The Uchiha still disliked her presence, however; even this overly kind and soft sound of her compassionate voice was irritating to him. He wanted her gone.

"Just go away. I don't need your pity."

"This–this isn't p-pity, I am–!" she began a bit louder, but he was already too far away to hear the ending of the sentence.

Slamming the door shut, Sasuke rubbed his face, eventually beginning to feel the already familiar burning in his eyes. The Hyūga was already gone, or at least she couldn't bother him anymore for sure, but for some reason his anger only kept uprising deep within, making him want to go after her and kill her… And then proceed with a full-blown rampage… To kill everyone he would reach… To ravage the entire village!

The ninja flinched, slowly removing his hands off his eyes and looking at his reflection in the mirror. His Mangekyō Sharingan was now active even though he hadn't activated it willingly…

Something was off. Could it be that his wave of rage was somehow connected to this? As well as most of his mood swings of late…

Sasuke frowned, and his irises slowly turned onyx-black again. He needed someone to ask about this… But who?

– **=OwO=** –

As the evening came, the Hyūga compound was as lively as ever. The training grounds were full of young members of the clan practising their skills, while indoors some of the others studied theory under the guidance of their elders.

The guards escorted a young blonde kunoichi inside the grounds and instructed her to wait near a bench. Ino just shrugged and took a seat, watching overly serious (in her own opinion) kids spar against each other. Fortunately, she didn't get to die off boredom as Neji showed up in just a minute, quickly thanking the guards for the escort and then dismissing them.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice." The jōnin smiled and offered the girl to take a walk outside the compound.

"No worries. At first, I was confused when the messenger instructed me to come here urgently... But I think I know what this might be about," Yamanaka spoke as the pair walked outside the compound, and continued along an empty road.

"Really?" Neji looked at her with slight suspicion. The girl just gave him a nod. "Interesting. I take it we're both thinking about the newest addition to Konoha's shinobi?"

"Yep. Before he went to see Hiashi-sama, he came to speak with us. Well, not exactly us... He wanted to talk to Naruto, but Sakura and I were there as well at the same time. We're the ones who pointed him to seek out you." The girl shrugged and gave Neji a slightly sorry look, though not without a hint of amusement.

The Hyūga sighed. So this was who he had to thank for this whole situation...

The pair continued to walk until they reached one of Konoha's parks. There they went on for a few minutes before stopping at a huge tree. The jōnin performed a few hand seals, slamming his open palm on the ground. A secret passage quickly opened up, and both of them went inside before it closed again, the place outside once again looking like a normal patch of grass near a tree.

"What is this?" asked the kunoichi, looking around a huge hallway that was poorly lit. She suspected that they'd entered one of the few underground facilities that belonged directly to the Hokage. Most of shinobi didn't even know about their existence, and even ANBU were forbidden to be here. In truth, as surprising as it might sound, even someone as insightful as Danzō and his ANBU-Re hadn't found out about all of these places. Most of them were either tightly guarded and hidden by the most loyal to the current Hokage, or completely abandoned like this one.

Ino frowned, observing the place. The hallway was mostly made of stone, with a few very old lamps shining every ten yards or so. They walked past a few other hallways that lead to various empty or locked rooms. About five minutes later they had finally reached their destination. Neji invited the kunoichi to enter one of the rooms.

"Right. Make yourself comfortable here." He closed the door behind them and flicked the light switch. Inside the room were a few sofas, chairs, a table, a drawing board, and a lot of documents stacked everywhere. Scrolls were lying around the floor, and stacks of seals seemed to be scattered around as well. In other words, the room was more than a bit messy. They both took a seat, and Ino gave the Hyūga an expecting look.

"This place belongs to the Hokage," said Neji, confirming her guess. "It's one of the few facilities within the territory of the village that nobody knows about except for Tsunade-sama and her direct subordinates. Meaning, not even the ANBU are aware of its existence. She only told me about it due to the importance of our mission, and it should stay this way. I can't stress enough how important it is to keep this place a secret. The penalty for exposing it would be severe." The jōnin's expression turned too serious even for Neji Hyūga all of a sudden, with him losing the friendly demeanour he had just minutes before. Ino was confused as to what exactly was happening.

"This is a bit unexpected... What is this about? Why have you brought me here?" She asked worriedly, having a bad feeling about the whole thing.

Neji unwrapped one of the scrolls on the table and moved it closer to Ino.

"You have been selected for a top-secret mission under the direct command of the Hokage. I'm sorry that this is being dropped on you out of the blue like this, but we're all Konoha's shinobi, and we have a duty to fulfil. As of this moment, you have been recruited to take part in this mission, and as I said before – if any of this information leaks, there will be consequences. Frankly, I'm afraid we'll all die shortly in this case. Before letting me approach you... Well, they obviously did a lot of research into you. Thus, they found you the most suitable for this. You will find more information in the scroll I showed you. Read it, memorize it, and we'll destroy it." The way Neji spoke and looked at Ino was nothing like she had ever seen from him before. It was almost as if the ninja was possessed by someone else, even though she realized that it wasn't the case.

Ino now looked even more confused but decided not to argue. After a few minutes as she read the scroll's contents time and time again, she finally pushed it away from her, rubbing the temples on her head. The jōnin took the scroll and immediately disposed of it.

"So... Do I even have any time to think about all of this? This is all... Very sudden. I don't know what to say," muttered the girl. She looked worried, confused and even a bit frightened. She was supposed to spy on one of their own? A council member, and the master of ANBU-Root? It felt almost like she ended up in a poorly written spy novel. "Why me? Does this have something to do with Sasuke looking for people before?"

"Yes. Thanks to you initially, I was drafted into this as well. He then asked me to select more people. You're one of the few who will assist me in this mission. I was also thinking about Shikamaru, for he'd be able to organize the information we gather and make sense of it. But for now, there's just two of us. Listen, Ino. This is very important." He crossed his arms on his chest and looked away. "I will provide further details as to what we're going to do. You'll have…," The ninja looked at the dusty clock on the wall, "Three hours to prepare. Starting tonight we will be working on this. Let your relatives know that you'll be gone on an assignment for some time. Keep in mind that nobody in Konoha is to recognize or see you for the duration of this mission."

The Hyūga stood up from the table and walked towards the exit. "I've left a few documents for you to look over. Once you're done, you can leave to prepare. In those papers, you'll find the time and place of our next meeting. I'll be seeing you". With that the teen left, leaving the kunoichi alone in the room. The girl sighed.

"Great... I'm actually starting to regret the fact he came back at all. And what's the meaning of all this…?" She mumbled, giving herself just a few more seconds to collect herself before finally committing to this whole ordeal. "Fine. Let's see where this leads us," she murmured, picking up a few papers to read about the mission's details.

– **=OwO=** –

Evening came, and the pair met up at the designated spot not too far from the ANBU headquarters. The sun was already set, so there were fewer people out on the streets. The two of them were wearing concealing clothes, as well as using transformation jutsu to disguise their looks.

"This isn't your forte, you know..." She laughed, looking at what Neji chose as his disguise. He looked like a teenage girl with ponytails, wearing a light coat and a fashionable hat. The jōnin didn't reply, but she could feel that he was a little bit annoyed.

"Whatever. We follow the plan. I'll be your pillar to lean on once you use your technique. Then we'll analyze together what my eyes see." He said. The girl gave him a nod, and the two instantly disappeared.

Meanwhile, the strike team had already assembled near the main gates of the village. Team Seven, Team Eight, and Team Yamato. They had a quick discussion of their nearest destination and schedule and departed without wasting any more time. Team Eight was moving in the back of the group, Yamato and Sai were in the middle, and Team 7 were the ones leading the stride. They easily manoeuvred across the branches of trees without losing any speed. The atmosphere in the group was a bit... tight. Naruto wasn't his usual cheerful self, which Kakashi and Sakura had noticed, of course. With a quick sign, Hatake motioned Sakura to check on their blond teammate. After a few jumps, she was running just alongside Naruto.

"Are you feeling alright? You look tense... This is unlike you," the medical ninja asked with concern. Uzumaki quickly snapped out of it and gave Sakura a reassuring smile.

"Yeah. All good. Getting ready to kick some ass."

She didn't look convinced at all, but the girl still nodded.

"Good... If there's anything that bothers you, make sure to let us know. This mission depends on our cooperation just like any other." They smiled at each other, and then she jumped back at her spot in their formation.

Throughout the brief conversation, Yamato kept eyeing Naruto, thinking about the strange behaviour the teen displayed. He was thinking if the seal might be damaged significantly this time unknown to them all, and if that was the case, then how could that affect the plan. If they wouldn't be able to contain him, would they be forced to kill him in order not to let the jinchūriki get captured by the enemy?

He glanced at Sai who was also staring at Naruto's back, apparently thinking the same. This was no good at all...

"You seem to be oddly into this, Shino." Kiba suddenly spoke in the back of the squad. Aburame didn't respond while Inuzuka continued, "I heard from Hinata that her cousin changed a bit as well all of a sudden. There seems to be a lot of shit going on in the village ever since his return, don't you think?" The teen wasn't even trying to keep a low voice. Shino gave him a short worrying glance from behind the sunglasses, but not saying anything this time either.

Kiba grunted.

"Hmph. Whatever, stay quiet. I'm with Naruto on this one anyway. Shit's weird."

"Hinata," suddenly said Shino as quietly as possible. The girl flinched, not instantly realizing who was calling her – apparently, she had just snapped out of very deep thought. "Formation G."

Her white eyes widened in a mixture of surprise and anxiety – the code he had just spelt meant that he was requesting her to subtly check everyone around for being under a genjutsu. She did as he told her, activating her dōjutsu and remaining silent for a few seconds.

"All clear," she whispered, to which Shino simply nodded without expressing any emotions.

For a while, all three of them didn't say anything. They all realized that Hinata's words could mean only one of two things: either she was under a genjutsu herself, and it had to be so strong that even her eyes couldn't see through it; or that nobody was under control after all. Since the latter option was the most likely one to be true, it could, in turn, mean only that whatever intel Sasuke had brought to the Hokage, it was indeed absolutely crucial.

"Kinda hard to believe it," mumbled Kiba, looking notably more serious and focused than just a minute ago. "We're actually gonna take down an Akatsuki."

"No, they are going to do that. We're only providing them with assistance, that's why," reasoned Shino, still sounding indifferent.

"Yeah, well, like hell they're gonna make it without us! Right, Akamaru?"

The dog barked in response, but somehow it didn't sound as excitedly as they would expect it to sound.

Kiba sighed, looking sideways.

"Honestly, sometimes I kinda wish he didn't return…," he murmured.

Shino didn't react to this either while Hinata lowered her eyes and bit her lip. Although normally she would most certainly tell him not to say things like that, but for some reason, this time she said nothing at all.


End file.
